


V- ^ 



■■■■., ,•'•■■-'• 



^n< 



^ 









4 ^ 






7 » ^c 



o 















- A G 



' / \ 









V 



*- 



' 












<r x ' x 


4? «?* 








' 




















vV 







<s c 












o 



«* ■*, 






i*' 

























-^ -40 



V ^ 






X -f. 






% 
^ 
























^> 















:.r 



























*+ <* 


















\V <p 









■J- Q 



** \'*1±* 





o x 






- ^\ 


<s 




*++. ■$ 



























f +,. 















csjf 



■- ^ 



THE 

MANUFACTURE OF STEEL: 

CONTAINING 

THE PRACTICE AND PRINCIPLES 

OF 

WORKING AND MAKING STEEL. 

A HAND-BOOK 

FOR 

BLACKSMITHS AND WORKERS IN STEEL AND IRON, WAGON-MAKERS, 

DIE-SINKERS, CUTLERS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF FILES 

AND HARDWARE, OF STEEL AND IRON, AND 

FOR MEN OF SCIENCE AND ART. 

BY 

FREDERICK OVERMAN, ~^ 

MINING ENGINEER; AUTHOR OF THE "MANUFACTURE OF IRON," ETC. 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A NEW EDITION, TO WHICH IS ADDED AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING 

AN ACCOUNT OF 

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL, 

By A. A. FESQUET, Chemist and Engineer. 
PHILADELPHIA : 

HENRY CAREY BAIRD, 

INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHER, 

406 Walnut Street. 

LONDON: 

TRUBNER & CO., 

57 <fc 59 Ludgatb Hill. 

1873. 



I 



Entered Meordfag to Art of I 

HENRY CABBY BAIBD, 
Tn the Ofliro tfthfl Librarian ofCongreaa, -'it Waahnagtoa, P. & 






&-/Z70f 



^c 



3° 



PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. 



The undersigned has much pleasure in presenting 
to the American Public a new and improved edition 
of so well known, and so valuable and popular a book 
as " Overman's Manufacture of Steel." 

The Editor, Professor Fesquet, has added an ac- 
oountmrf the various new processes of Steel Manufac- 
ture, which have been practically tested, and are fully 
approved, and it is believed that in its new form, 
the volume must prove even more acceptable in the 
future than it has done in the past. 

H. C. B. 
Philadelphia, 
May 15, 1873. 



^ 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



The manufacture of steel is unnecessarily 
shrouded in mystery, which has been the 
cause of its being not more generally in ap- 
plication than it is at the present time. Steel 
is a superior metal for most purposes where 
metals are used, and its manufacture cannot 
be too much cultivated. A principal obstacle 
to its more general introduction is its high 
price ; to effect a reduction in which, has been 
the aim of the author of this work. 

We compare favourably in most branches 
of manufacture, and indeed eclipse other 
nations, except in the manufacture of steel. 
Yet we have materials in abundance, and of 
excellent quality for the purpose ; and . it 
needs but proper application to ensure 

success. 

(v) 



VI PREFACE. 

There is nothing particularly novel in this 
book, nor any new inventions recorded there- 
in. I considered it sufficient for all practical 
purposes to record and explain what has been 
done, and confine the illustrations to such 
approved methods as are sure to succeed, 
assuming that improvements upon the known 
mode of manufacture are readily suggested to 
the minds of those who engage in it. 

All I have endeavoured to accomplish has 
been, to develope the science of manufactur- 
ing steel, and explain the philosophy of the 
practical operations. All the facts recorded 
are with this view, as I am satisfied that, if 
our manufacturers understood the philosophy 
of the operation, there is no doubt they would 
soon accomplish much more than the best 
practical operator can perform without that 
knowledge. 

A portion of the volume is devoted to the 
working of steel in the smith's forge, partly 
for the purpose of illustrating the principles 
involved, but chiefly to afford a safe guide to 



PREFACE. Vll 

the blacksmith, who is always under the 
necessity of working more or less of this 
material. 

In conclusion, I need only say that my aim 
has been to be of use, and to contribute my 
mite to the general prosperity of the country. 

Philadelphia, March 14, 1851. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Forging Page 13 

Degrees of Heat 13 

Overheating 14 

Forge-fire 15 

Tuyere, or tue-iron ; water and hot-air tuyere j rotary tuyere, 16 

Form of its Aperture 17 

Forge for Hard Coal 19 

General dimensions 20 

Portable Forges 21 

Anvil ; making of an anvil ; cast-iron anvils ; block 22 

Tongs : flat-bit tongs ; pincer-tongs ; nail-tongs ; crook-bit tongs, 26 

Chisels, punches, swages, set-hammer 27 

Hammers, forms of; sledges 27 

Fuel for forging steel 30 

Flux, principles of; sand, borax, borax-glass, borax and sal- 
ammonia, borax and potash 31 

Welding: steel to iron; natural steel; by split joint; shear- 
steel ; cast-steel ; to steel an axe ; shovel ; butt joint ; to 
steel a hammer ; wire draw-plates : chisels ; scarf joint, 35 

Blistered steel, value of 40 

Shear-steel 42 

(ix) 



X CONTENTS. 

Cast-steel 42 

Welding steel to steel ; cast-steel ; wootz, 43 

Test of the quality of steel 46 

Hardening of steel; degree of heat; characteristics of hard- 
ened steel ; not peculiar to steel; of wrought and cast- 
iron; difference between hardened iron and steel 46 

Test of hardened steel 50 

Expansion of steel in hardening 51 

Refrigerating fluids ; manner of cooling 52 

Hardening of files 54 

" of needles and cutlery 55 

Making of steel dies ; their breakage in hardening 56 

Hardening by compression 61 

Annealing 

Tempering — of small tools; common tools; knife-blades; nee- 
dles; saw-blades; colours of tempering; in metal com- 
positions 62 

Damascus steel; imitation of ; gun-barrels; blades GO 

Case-hardening — by charcoal, salt and charcoal, prussiate of 
potash, prussiate of potash and camphor, prussiate of 
potash and borax ; description of iron to be used 67 



CHAPTER II. 

Varieties of Steel 71 

Wootz — description of ore from which it is made; furnace 
and blast ; manner of its manufacture ; philosophy of the 
process 72 

Damascus steel ; value of scimitars ; imitation of it by 
wrought-iron and lampblack; wrought and cast-iron; 
alloys, alumina and steel ; etching the veins 75 



CONTENTS. xi 



CHAPTER III. 

German Steel — Natural Steel; what it is made of; steel- 
ore; sparry ore; form of forge-fire for making steel. ... 81 

Blast; common bellows ; cylinder blast ; fan blast 84 

Tilt or force-hammer ; construction of; speed 85 

Faces of hammer ; anvil block 88 

Pillars, or housings; moving power; cam-ring; shaft; irre- 
gularities in speed ; waste of power; weight of wheel 

and shaft ; number of wipers 89 

Making natural steel; first appearance of steel in the forge; 
effect of boiling on the iron ; making steel of white or 

No. 2 pig-iron 95 

Use of fluxes 99 

Making steel from No. 3 pig-iron 100 

Requisites for making steel 101 

Form and dimensions of hearth; quality of bottom stone . . 103 

Practical manipulation 105 

Form of a steel cake ; forging of the steel 110 

Expense of the process 112 

German method of making steel 113 

Making steel in a puddling furnace 115 

Refining of steel 115 

The refining fires ; fuel 117 



CHAPTER IV. 

American and English Method of making Steel 120 

Blistered steel; amount of steel annually manufactured in 

England ; construction of the converting furnace 120 

Chests, or Cementing Boxes 124 

Charging of the Boxes 125 

Cement 1 26 



Xil CONTENTS. 

Working of a converting furnace 127 

Degree of cementation ; trial rods; melting of iron in the 

box 128 

Gain in weight 1 29 

Tilting 130 

Refining fires ; blast; operation of welding common steel; 

shear-steel 13C 

Tilts ; form of hammers and tilt-houses ; anvils and hammer- 
heads 133 

Cast-steel 135 

Making of crucibles in Sheffield ; mould for that purpose ; 

weight of a crucible ; mode of drying 130 

Cast-house; furnaces; fuel; time of melting; manipulation; 

flux ; tongs ; casting 139 

The mould ; quality of cast-steel 144 

A merican steel 147 



CHAPTER Y. 

General Remarks on making Steel 147 

Wootz 147 

German or natural steel ; difficulty in making it 148 

First element; ore which is qualified; crude iron for steel ; 

leading principles in carrying on a blast-furnace for 

crude steel-iron 149 

Blistered steel ; spring-steel in Pittsburgh ; saw-blades of 

Philadelphia 153 

Good iron for conversion; trial by experiment; by chemical 

analysis • 155 

Making the iron for conversion 157 

Cement 160 % 

Dimensions and material of the converting chests; varieties 

of slabs • management of the chest 165 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

A new box, bow dried 167 

Form of iron 167 

Firing of the furnace ; trial-bars 170 

Closing the heat; size and form of the blisters 172 

Tilting of steel 173 

Cast-steel ; making it directly from iron and lampblack ; 
oxide of iron with cast-iron, or lampblack ; melting of 

wrought-iron ; alloys of iron 173 

Alloys of steel 176 

Selection of converted bars 176 

Form of air-furnaces 178 

Melting pots 179 

Flux 180 

Tilting of steel 183 



CHAPTER VI. 

Nature of Steel 183 

Hardness 183 

Fine cast-steel ; shear-steel ; spring-steel 183 

German steel ; effect of too high or too low heat 184 

Refrigeration of steel ; mediums ; in mercury, in acidulated 

water, in solutions of salt, in oil and fat, in sand, cold 

metal, and air; manner in which it is performed 186 

Tempering; shades of tempering; manner in which it 

should be performed 188 

Characteristics of steel ; hardness and tenacity ; colour and 

lustre 191 

Texture 194 

Sound 195 

Cohesion 195 

Elasticity 196 

Specific gravity 197 

2 



xiv CONTENTS. 

Fusibility 197 

Welding properties 1?8 

Magnetic qualities 199 

APPENDIX. 

Hardness of alloys 

Tenacity, malleability and ductility of metals 206 

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

Improvements in steel 

Various methods of Steel manufacture 

Bessemer process 

Martin process - 

The action of peroxide of manganese and of spiegeleisen 

Alloys of steel 

Steel ores 



Miscellaneous. 






MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



CHAPTER I. 

FORGING. 

Degrees of heat. — In this chapter, we shall speak 
of the various degrees of heat required in the manu- 
facture of steel. They are termed, by the black- 
smith, the black heat ; the red, or cherry-red heat ; 
the bright red, or bright cherry-red ; the white, and 
the welding heat. The first-named is the lowest 
heat ; it is not visible in daylight, but shines in the 
dark with a brown colour. The second is, in day- 
light, a blood-red crimson. The third, a yellowish 
red, gives the scales, or hammer-slag on the iron, a 
black appearance. A white heat is that at which 
the scales and iron appear to be of the same colour ; 
and the highest, or welding heat, is used for welding 
iron. The latter heat is very variable; for pure, 
fibrous iron sustains almost any degree of heat, so 

long, as it is protected by a slag; while cold-short, 

(13) 



% 

14 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

or impure iron, bears but a comparatively low heat 
without being melted or burnt. That iron is — and 
for good reasons — considered the best, which bears 
the highest heat ; the value or quality of iron vary- 
ing according to the degree of heat it will sustain 
without injury. 

Steel does not bear the same degree of heat as 
iron without injury. The finest cast-steel will hardly 
sustain a bright red heat without falling to pieces ; 
rendering it imprudent to heat it higher than a mid- 
dling, or cherry-red heat. Blistered steel will resist 
a far higher degree of heat than cast-steel; and good 
shear-steel will endure a white heat without much 
injury. Natural and German steel can be heated to 
the welding heat of good iron. 

Although very sensitive to heat, steel will bear 
much more forging than iron, if not previously in- 
jured by too great a heat. In forging steel, no 
heavy tools, or at least no heavy sledge, should be 
used ; a good-sized hand-hammer, with a rapid suc- 
cession of strokes, will be sufficient. This is, in fact, 
the best method of forging steel. 

Overheating, either of iron or steel, is injurious, 
and should by all means be avoided; the lowest heat 
necessary for the w r ork in hand, is the most advan- 
tageous. Steel or iron which has been overheated 



FORGING 



15 



may sometimes be restored to utility, in a measure, 
by forging, or drawing. This, in the case of iron, 
often accomplish.es the purpose intended; it will, 
however, improve burnt steel but little. If, there- 
fore, iron requires care in heating, it is evident that 
steel requires much more. 

Forge-fire. — The means employed for heating 
steel are the same as those used by the blacksmith 
for forging iron. The principles according to which 
a forge for heating steel is to be built, are those of 
fast work and a quick fire. In Fig. 1, a common 



Fig. 1. 




blacksmith's forge is represented. The leather bel- 
lows are driven by hand, or, as here shown, by the 
foot and treadle. The bellows are double ; that is, 
the whole is divided by a horizontal partition, which 
separates it into a working or under part, and a re- 



16 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

gulating or upper part. By lowering the under part, 
after having been raised, the valve in its bottom will 
be forced open by the pressure of the atmosphere, 
and the lower compartment will fill with air. On 
raising the bottom, the lower valve closes, and the 
air in the under part is compressed and forced 
through the valve in the partition, whence the weight 
of the top drives it through the tuyere, or nozzle. 
The pressure may be increased by putting weights 
upon the top. The bellows may be driven by ma- 
chinery or power, where such can be procured, quite 
as well as by hand ; but it is better, in such cases, to 
employ the fan-blast, as represented in Figs. 15 and 
16. If the fan-blast can be obtained, it is prefera- 
ble to the common bellows, as it is more uniform, 
and saves fuel ; besides, its use improves the quality 
of the steel and iron. 

The tuyere, or tue iron, is usually a simple block 
of cast-iron, as represented, of six or eight inches 
long and three inches square, with a tapered bore of 
one inch at the smaller, and three inches at the wider 
end. The narrow part, which is directed into the 
fire, can be made narrower by placing an iron ring, 
of more or less thickness, within the aperture. Tuy- 
eres have been contrived of various forms ; but pro- 
bably none will be found superior to that above 



FORGING. 17 

described. Hot-air tuyeres have been used, but are 
now generally abandoned. The water tuyere (Fig. 4) 
is, on account of its durability, very valuable ; but it 
has the disadvantage of keeping the fire cold, which 
is injurious to both iron and steel, but particularly 
to the latter. Another tuyere, now coming very 
much into use, is the " rotary blacksmith's tuyere/' 
This appears to be a very desirable addition to the 
forge, as it affords the facility of increasing the size 
of the aperture, and consequently the strength of 
the blast, at any moment, even while at work. Of 
this tuyere, (represented in Fig. 2,) E. Harris, of 
Springfield, Mass., is the patentee. The apertures 
are in a rotary, oblong ball, A, and Fig 2 

are of various sizes ; so that a larger . 

or smaller one may be used by merely 
turning the ball. The whole is con- 
tained in a cast-iron box, closed on 
all sides. The great advantage of this tuyere con- 
sists in the fact that a small fire may be converted 
into a large one, or vice versa, by merely turning the 
hollow ball by means of an axle, which projects at 
one side of the box. 

The form of the aperture of a tuyere is of consi- 
derable importance in the working of the fire. An 
almost cylindrical aperture, such as is represented 




18 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



Fig. 3. 




in Fig. 3, throws the blast in a compact, close, and 

almost cylindrical current, into 
the fire; and furnishes the kind 
of blast required for welding, 
soldering, and small work, where 
the heat is to be concentrated 
upon a particular point. By 
the use of this tuyere, a great saving in 'fuel is ef- 
fected. To make a cylindrical blast, the cylindrical 
part of the aperture should be at least as long as the 
diameter of the same is wide. 

A tuyere of the form shown in Fig. 4 throws the 
Fig 4 blast over a large portion of the 

yfire; it is useful for heating, but 
unsuitable for welding iron. The 
nozzle from the bellows, or the 
blast-pipe, is in all cases fitted 
closely into the tuyere, and sur- 
rounded by clay, or some other matter. A tuyere 
of the description shown in Fig. 3 makes a small, but 
intense heat ; while one of the kind represented in 
Fig. 4 m^kes a larger fire, but lower heat. 




FORGING. 



19 



Fig. 5. 



FORGE FOR HARD COAL. 

In working hard, or anthracite coal, no horizontal 
tuyere, nor any of the description above referred to, 
can be used to advantage. A small grate is laid 
in the bottom of the fire-hearth, space being left 
below it for the reception of ashes and clinkers ; the 
blast is then introduced under the grate. Such an 
arrangement may be made at any common forge-fire ; 
but a more perfect forge is represented in Fig. 5. 
This is a brick hearth, about 
thirty inches high and three 
feet square, in the centre 
of which is a square pit, 
into which the blast-pipe is 
conducted. At a distance 
of six inches, or less, below 
the top of the brick-work, 
a cast-iron plate is inserted, 
in which is a square hole for the reception of the 
grate. A common stove-grate, four or five inches 
square, and fitting loosely into the cast-iron plate, is 
the kind generally used. A small opening, below 
the grate, leads into the ash-pit, in order to carry off 
the ashes and cinders. On the right and left of the 
fire, a wall of fire brick is erected, six inches in 




20 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

height, which support an arch, also of fire-brick. 
This arch is movable, and consists of an iron frame, 
into which the fire-brick are firmly wedged. In the 
w T all on the right hand is an opening, into which an 
iron trough, in the form of a hopper, is inserted, for 
the purpose of heating the coal before it is put on 
the fire. Fresh hard coal, when thrown suddenly on 
a hot fire, is liable to crumble into small pieces ; the 
heating prevents this, and keeps the fire open, and 
free from fine coal. The top of the hearth, or brick- 
pile, is covered by an iron plate. A fire of this kind 
is very advantageous for common smith-work ; but a 
concentrated heat cannot be made in it. 

The fire-hearth represented in Fig. 1 is commonly 
twelve or sixteen inches wide, and six inches deep. 
The tuyere dips a little into the fire. The hearth is 
built of brick or stone, thirty inches high, and is 
covered, in whole or in part, by an iron plate. At 
the left side, an iron trough for coal, and a similar 
one for water, are usually inserted. An iron coal- 
trough is advantageous in working bituminous, and 
also hard coal. The coal in the trough is soaked in 
water, which qualifies it for roasting or coking, and 
affords the additional advantage of more readily dis- 
engaging the sulphur of the coal. For charcoal, a 
water-trough only is necessary. Forge-fires for large 



FORGING. 21 

work are generally very low — in some instances, but 
a few inches above the floor of the workshop. Over 
the fire is a light roof, or hood, of sheet-iron ; or, 
over small fires, of boards. This hood gathers the 
smoke and gases of the fire, and conducts them to 
the chimney. The chimney should not be too small ; 
for a great deal of cold air draws into it with the 
smoke, and diminishes, in proportion, its capacity for 
draught. The flues to the stack are usually in the 
highest part of the hood ; but as this arrangement 
frequently leads to smoking, it is a good plan to have 
either an iron pipe or a brick channel leading from 
the upper flue down to the fire. The flue will then 
carry off all the gas and smoke from the fire, and 
also that from below the hood. This arrangement is 
indicated, in Fig. 1, by dotted lines. 

Portable forges are of great utility in ship-build- 
ing, on railroads, in laying gas and water-pipes, 
erecting steam-engines, and in many other branches 
of industry. Those most in use are called " truck- 
forges,'' and are generally mounted on two or four 
wheels. These portable forges are usually built en- 
tirely of cast-iron, and are supplied with a leather 
bellows, a vice, and a small anvil. They are used 
for sharpening chisels, bore-bits, picks, blasting tools, 
stone-drills, the heating of rivets, and similar work. 



22 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



Such an apparatus, for small work, answers all the 
ordinary requisites of a smith's forge. In fig. 6, a 
portable forge is represented, such as is generally in 
use. The cast-iron fire-hearth is mounted on a box, 



Fig 6. 




or chest. The bellows are in the chest, and are pro- 
tected by it. The tuyere ifl a concave disk, with six 
or seven apertures. The chest may be made of wood 
or iron, and be either mounted on wheels, or carried 
by hand. The advantage of the treadle in the har- 
dening and tempering of tools may readily be per- 
ceived, as it leaves both hands free for operation; 
and such work is generally done single-handed. 



THE ANVIL 



Next in importance to the forge-fire, is the anvil 
of the smith. This is not only of interest as a tool 
of the trade; but it is also a particular object of our 




FORGING. 23 

inquiry, because the steeling of the anvil is a matter 
of some importance. Anvils for heavy work are 
generally square blocks of iron, with steel faces. In 
many instances, however, it is merely a cast-iron 
block, with chilled face. The common smith's 
anvil is represented in fig. 7. It is made entirely of 
wrought-iron, and the upper part, Fia 7 

or face, is covered with hardened 
steel. The making of an anvil is 
heavy work, as the whole of it is 
performed by hand. Anvils vary 
in weight from one hundred to over 
five hundred pounds. For their manufacture, two 
large fires are required. The principal portion, or 
core, of the anvil — a square block of iron — is 
heated to the welding-heat, at a certain point or cor- 
ner, in one of the fires ; and the piece of iron which 
is to form a projecting end is heated at another fire. 
When the core and corner have both reached the 
welding-heat, they are brought together upon an 
anvil, and joined by heavy swing-hammers. In this 
way the four corners of the base are welded to the 
body, in four heats. After this, the projection for 
the shank-hole, and lastly the beak, are welded to 
the core. The whole is then brought into proper 
shape, by paring and trimming, for the reception of 



24 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

the face. The steel used for this purpose is, or ought 
to be, the best kind of shear-steel ; blistered steel is, 
however, frequently substituted. The anvil and steel 
are heated in separate fires until they attain the pro- 
per temperature; the two sides which are to be 
welded are then sprinkled with calcined borax, and 
joined by quickly repeated blows of the hand-ham- 
mer. The steel generally used is half an inch thick ; 
but if it be only a quarter of an inch in thickn> 
the difference is unimportant, if the steel be good. 
Steel of an inferior quality, if too thick, is apt to 
fly, or to crack in hardening. 

The steeled anvil is next heated to redness, and 
brought under a fall of water, of at least the size of 
its face, and of three or four feet head. After har- 
dening, it is smoothed upon a grindstone, and finally 
polished with emery. Small anvils, such as are Ofi 
by silver-smiths, gold-beaters, &c, are polished with 
crocus, and have a mirror-like fa< 

The expensiveness of wrought-iron anvils has in- 
duced their manufacture, for particular purposes, of 
cast-iron. The common anvil, however, cannot be 
made of cast-iron ; for the beak would not be strong 
enough. None but anvils with full square faces have 
been successfully made of cast-iron ; these are either 
simply chilled by casting the faces in iron moulds, or 



FORGING. 25 

the face is plated with cast-steel. Chilled cast-iron 
anvils are not much in use ; they are too brittle, and 
the corners of the face will not stand. Cast-iron 
anvils with cast-steel faces, however, are a superior 
article, and in many respects preferable to wrought- 
iron ; the face is harder and stronger, though the 
beaks will not last as long. For purposes where a 
good face is essential, as for saw-manufacturers, cop- 
per and tin-smiths, &c, the cast-iron anvil with cast- 
steel face will be found to answer every purpose. 

The anvil is generally set upon the butt end of a 
large block of wood, oak being preferred. It is 
placed loosely upon it, being secured merely by a 
few spikes or wedges driven into the wood. Cutlers, 
file-makers, and those who manufacture small articles 
of steel, place their anvils upon blocks of stone, in 
order to make their foundation firm, prevent recoil, 
and give efficiency to light but quick blows of the 
hammer. In working soft metals, such as copper 
and its compounds, a layer of felt between the anvil 
and the block will be found of advantage. 



26 MANUFACTURE OP STEEL. 



TONGS 

Form an important class of tools in the forge. 
There is so great a variety in their sizes and forms, 
that a description of the principal would occupy 
more space than we can devote to them. Still, there 
are but a few leading forms, the varieties of which 
arise either from fancy, or from the peculiar nature 
of certain work. The common or flat-bit tongs are 
represented in fig. 8, A; they are of various ui 
from one foot to five feet long, and from a half to ten 
pounds in weight. The fire-end is made more or less 
open, according to the thickness of the articles to be 

Fig. 8. 

A 



3Z 





held with it. The bits, or lips, vary in width, and 
are often hollow, so as to fasten with more certainty 
to round iron and fagots. An oval ring, or coupler, 
is put upon the handles, or shank, to hold the tongs 
firmly to the work. Next in general utility to the 
flat-bit tongs, are the pincer-tongs, represented in 



FORGING 



27 



fig. 8, B. The swelling on the lips, or fire-end, is an 
advantageous arrangement, particularly where short 
pieces of round or square iron are to be forged. To 
this class of tongs belongs also that form in which 
the bits are round, as in the nail-tongs. Another 
useful variety is the crook-bit, shown in fig. 9 ; it 



Fig. 9. 




serves particularly for small work in steel, because 
the rod may pass the nail. There are, besides these 
forms, basket-tongs, hoop-tongs, pliers, pincers, and 
numerous others. 



HAMMERS. 

An item not less important in a smithy than tongs, 
are chisels, fig. 10, A ; punches, B ; swages, C ; to 
which a bottom tool belongs, which is cut with its 
square tail, or shank, in the anvil. D, fig. 10, is a 
representation of anvil chisels. The above tools are 
either fitted to a handle which passes through the 



28 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



Fig. 10. 




eye, as in A and B, fig. 10 ; or, 
as in heavy work, the handle 
consists of a twisted hazel-rod, 
wound around the tool, C. These 
tools are all faced with steel, 
and are, in fact, cheaper if made 
entirely of that metal. Natural 
steel is preferable for this pur- 
pose to any other. Tongs made 
of spring-steel are certainly 
more expensive at first, but are less costly in the end, 
than those of iron. Tools should never be heated 
red-hot, nor even allowed to become visibly hot; and 
if it should be necessary to bring tools in contact 
with heated iron, they should be repeatedly cooled, 
to prevent injury. 

Tools which may be made of iron, but which are 

better of steel, or at least 
faced witli steel, are the 
set-hammer, fig. 11, A ; 
and the heading-tool. The 
latter may be a single tool, 
as in fig. 11, B; or a tool 
with many holes, C. 
Besides the tools we have named, an almost end- 
less variety is required in a blacksmith's shop, parti- 



Fig, l]. 




FORGING 



29 



cularly where machine-work is forged. Forges for 
the manufacture of hardware, or where steel is prin- 
cipally worked, are generally limited to a certain 
kind of tools, which have been found by experience 
to be the best adapted to the purpose. Thus, in the 
axe-factory, hammer-tongs are requisite — an instru- 
ment which is rarely found in any other establish- 
ment. 

Before leaving the consideration of forge-tools, we 
may make some additional remarks on the subject of 
hammers. The forms of this article are innumera- 
ble, each individual following the bent of his own 
fancy in constructing them. Undoubtedly, for cer- 
tain occupations, a peculiar form is requisite ; but 
there is no necessity for the endless variety of fan- 
ciful shapes the instrument is made to assume. The 
common hammer is shown 
in fig. 12; A, the eye or 
handle, being somewhat 
nearer to the pane, or nar- 
row edge, than to the 
head. The pane is a little 
rounded, as is also the 
head ; both are of steel, 
and hardened. The weight of the common hand- 
liammer of this form is from one to two pounds ; of 




30 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

the ordinary smith's sledge (fig. 12), from five to 
eight pounds. A heavy sledge weighs twelve or fif- 
teen pounds, and a swing-sledge from twenty-five to 
thirty pounds. Some hammers have two fiat heads, 
with the handle near one end ; others have spherical. 
or egg-shaped heads; and others again have two fiat 
panes set diagonally against the handle: these last 
are used in saw and hardware factories. Cutl< 
and edged-tool makers generally, prefer the hammer 
with the handle at one end, or near the top, as in 
fig. 12, B. 

r u b l . 

The fuel used in forging steel is chiefly bituminous 
coal, which is preferable to any other. Where soft 
mineral coal cannot be obtained, charcoal is substi- 
tuted. Anthracite is unfit for the purpose. A close 
fire is necessary, where the oxygen of the blast is 
consumed, or converted into carbonic acid, or carbo- 
nic oxide. Open fires, like those of charcoal and 
anthracite, are not well adapted for heating steel, 
because a great deal of air passes through them un- 
burnt, which, in passing over the hot steel, deprives 
it, to some extent, of its carbon. Charcoal and an- 
thracite fires require a roof or arch of fire-brick, as 
shown in fig. 5, in order to secure the proper com- 



FORGING. 31 

tion of the air. In a fire of bituminous coal, the 
roof may easily be formed of the coal itself. When 
damp, slack coal is thrown on the fire, in a layer of 
two or three inches thick, it will cake together, and, 
after the loose coal below it is burnt out, form a hol- 
low fire like a bakeoven ; the coke roof reflecting an 
immense heat upon the material below it. By no 
other means can a fire be made to possess so intense 
a heat as by the method we have described. In 
heating steel, particular attention should be paid to 
the purity of the coal, and to its freedom from sul- 
phur. Fine coal, wet, is less injurious to steel than 
coarse dry coal of the same quality. 

FLUX. 

Sand or other material, sprinkled upon iron when 
near the welding heat, serves to form a flux, or fluid 
glass, with the iron. This flux surrounds the hot 
iron or steel, and protects it against the impurities 
of the fuel, removing, at the same time, the coating 
of dry scales from the heated metals, and greatly 
facilitating the operation of welding. 

For welding steel to steel, and steel to iron, we 
have a variety of degrees of heat to deal with; and 
the flux which serves to protect good iron, is insufE- 



32 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

cient to protect cast-steel — just as, on the other 
hand, the flux which fits cast-steel for welding, would 
be useless on iron. Impure wrought-iron will form 
a slag of its own material ; while good iron is pro- 
tected, as we have intimated above, by sprinkling 
fine sand over it ; but this method will not answer 
w r ith steel, or where steel and iron are to be welded. 
The material used as a flux is to be applied shortly 
before the metal reaches the welding-heat, no ma! 
how high or low that heat may be; it will melt on 
the surface of the hot iron or steel, and last 1< 
enough to be brought to the anvil for welding. The 
slag flows off, or is forced out, in bringing the two 
surfaces together, and pressing them into close con- 
tact. If steel or iron is heated in contact with air, 
it burns, and forms a film of infusible magnetic <>.\: 
which is remarkably refractory on steel. If two sur- 
faces are brought together which are partially co- 
vered with such infusible oxide, the metals cannot 
come fairly into contact, and of course the welding 
is imperfect; it cannot be sound. After the flux is 
strewn on the iron, it is necessary to turn the metal 
constantly in the fire, otherwise the flux will flow to 
the lowest parts, and finally be lost. A better me- 
thod than that of sprinkling the sand on the hot iron 
is to roll the metal in the powdered flux, thus saving 



FORGING. 33 

the latter, and keeping the fire more free from 
clinkers. 

For welding iron, clean river-sand, or powdered 
sandstone, makes a good flux ; but it does not answer 
for welding steel, or steel and iron. For this pur- 
pose, borax is generally used. The common borax 
in crystals, as it is sold in the drug-stores, is com- 
posed of nearly one-half water. On heating these 
crystals in an iron pot, they dissolve into a clear 
liquid ; on further heating, the water is evaporated, 
and the residuum assumes the appearance of a spongy 
mass ; and by the continued application of heat, this 
mass is converted into a clear glass. This glass is 
therefore calcined borax; it is entirely free from 
water, and not very liable to absorb it. It should be 
prepared and powdered in advance, and always be on 
hand for use. Borax, thus prepared, is sufficient in 
almost all cases ; still, some workers in steel prefer 
a mixture of two parts borax with one of sal-ammo- 
nia, or three parts of the former with one of the lat- 
ter article. This compound is preferable for welding 
iron and steel. Borax alone is rather too fluid for 
iron, where it is to be welded to steel ; a more effi- 
cient flux for this purpose is well-dried and finely 
powdered white potters' clay — not common loam — 
which has been moistened with salt water, or brine. 



34 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

This clay makes a very fine flux and clean surface, to 
which steel readily adheres. There seems to be no 
apparent necessity for mixing sal-ammonia with bo- 
rax in welding steel. It certainly makes a more 
fusible slag ; but the chlorine of the ammonia, which 
combines with the slag — the ammonium being driven 
off — has a tendency to drive off the carbon from the 
steel, where it comes in contact with it, and convert 
such steel into iron. This OOnversioD of the suit 
into iron does not facilitate welding, and leaves a 
vein of damask at the point of junction. 

If pure borax is too refractory, as is th with 

some of the best kinds of cast->tcel, an excellent ilux 
may be produced by melting potash, or pearla>h, 
together witli pure dried clay, three parts of the for- 
mer and one of the latter, in an iron pot; adding to 
the fluid mass, gradually, an equal Weight of calcined 
borax. This flux should be finely powdered, and 
usetl like the borax; it melts at a dark-brown In 
vitrifies the iron slag perfectly, and is not injurious 
to the steel. This metal rapidly deteriorates in 
quality if the atmosphere has access to it while hot ; 
a suitable flux, therefore, which protects it, and at 
the same time purifies the surface, is all-important. 



FORGING. 35 



WELDIXG 



Is that operation by which two pieces of iron or 
steel, or steel and iron, are heated, brought together, 
and intimately and permanently united under press- 
ure, or, as is more generally the case, under repeated 
blows of the hammer ; the junction being impercept- 
ible. As the welding-heat of different materials 
greatly varies, it requires, in many instances, a skil- 
ful and dexterous workman to perform the operation 
successfully. The blacksmith is to watch the heat 
on the two pieces minutely, and, if they both have 
their proper heat and flux, he pulls them out of the 
fire, and quickly unites them. If the pieces are 
separate, or united but imperfectly, the smith incor- 
porates both by his right hand and hammer ; and if 
the work is heavy, a second hand, or helper, assists 
in striking with a more or less heavy hammer. To 
weld natural steel, or natural steel and iron, is not 
difficult ; for it will bear almost as much heat as iron. 
Still, it should be kept off of the tuyere, and in the 
dark heat of the fire. If a small piece of steel is to 
be welded to a larger piece of iron, it is heated to a 
cherry-red, and the iron to a white heat, when they 
are temporarily united. The pieces, thus united, are 
4 



36 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



Fig. 13. 




next exposed to a white heat, and sprinkled with bo- 
rax, (or, if German steel, with clay,) when the tem- 
perature is increased to a welding heat. If the steel 
is to be laid on a pick, crowbar, or any similar in- 
strument, it is drawn into that form, or a triangular 
bit, in which it is to be welded to the iron, as shown 

in fig, 18, A. " Here the 
1 forms the tongue to 
a split joint, and the weld- 
ing is performed at the 

same heat, and in the s . 
fire. In a similar man 1 

chisels, hammers, pai 
hatchets, axes, kc, are 

steeled. If shear-steel is to he welded in this waj 
iron, more attention and experience is requisite than 
for the welding of natural Bteel : and the iron is 
drawn out to a greater length, - to overlap and 

cover the steel more perfectly. C 1 requires 

still more caution, because it sustains still less heat ; 
and the iron must either overlap the steel entirely, 
and afterwards be cut or ground off; or the steel and 
iron should be heated in separate fires, in which case 
the butt-joint or scarf is preferable. 

In many instances, the edge which is to be steeled 
is made at first narrower than it is intended to be 



FORGING. 37 

when finished, and is afterwards drawn out when 
the welding has been completed. This method is 
adopted in the making of an axe. In fig. 13, B, is 
a representation of this process. The first operation 
is to bend a flat bar of iron, nearly as broad as the 
iron around the eye, and a little thicker. The eye 
is temporarily formed around a mandril, and the iron 
welded in the line A B, leaving two tails for the 
edges. The eye is then nearly perfected, using the 
mandril from both sides, so as to make it narrower in 
the middle than at the ends, which aids in securing 
the axe more firmly to the handle, and prevents its 
flying off, or slipping backward and forward. The 
head or poll of the axe is then laid on with steel of 
an inferior kind, and a slip of shear or cast-steel is 
laid between the two tails which are to form the edge. 
All three are then welded together, and drawn out, 
so as to form the broad side of the axe, which is now 
trimmed or pared with chisels, and hammered at a 
low heat to smooth it ; after which it is hardened, 
ground, and polished. 

Where the iron and steel are very thin, as in steel- 
ing shovels, the steel is laid between two thicknesses, 
and the whole welded and drawn out together. 

The butt-joint is used in welding a piece of steel 
to a flat surface, such as the face of an anvil, or the 



38 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

head of a hammer. In such cases, the piece of steel 
is forged to its proper shape before it is cut off from 
the bar, and fastened to the iron by notches, or by 
the drawn-op corners of the hammer-mould. It is then 
cut from the bar, and is ready to be welded. A more 
perfect method is to cut both surfaces coarsely with 
a rasp-like chisel, and fasten them together with a 
strap of wire; this mal. etter weld, particularly 

where the Bteel will not bear a heat Still an- 

other method is to nail the steel to the iron, wn 

in fig. 13, C. A pin or Bpike ifl made of tl. 
drawing it out in a thick round form, with a head as 
large and thick as is necessary to form the face. 
A corresponding hole is made in the iron mould, ami 
the steel firmly spiked to it. Tli -. in this \ 

temporarily united, are welded in one In 

Where large objects are to be faced with Bl 
such as anvils, beak-in ns. and the like, two fires are 
required, that the iron and -tori may be he pa- 

rately. If this cannot be conveniently done, the 
iron is first heated to a brisk white heat, and the cold 
steel is placed behind it, with a view of shielding it 
from the direct action of the fire. When the steel 
has in this way attained the welding-heat, the iron is 
ready, and the two may be united. When iron and 
steel are put at the same time into the fire, in a cold 



F R G I N 8 . 39 

state, the steel will be burned and spoiled before the 
iron is ready. Steel is so easily injured by heat, 
that the greatest care is requisite in exposing it to 
the action of fire. One of the most difficult opera- 
tions in steel, on account of its peculiar liability to 
injury, is the making of wire draw-plates. The pro- 
cess is most successfully performed by the French 
manufacturers. In this country and England, wire 
draw-plates are made by welding a plate of shear- 
steel to a plate of iron. In France and Germany, 
draw-plates are made by forming a crucible of the 
iron plate in drawing up the edges. In the cavity 
thus formed, hardened fragments of crude steel, 
white plate-iron, cast-steel, or the hardest natural 
steel, are driven in. The whole is then heated to 
the melting point of steel, and suffered to cool slowly. 
This melted steel forms a uniformly sound coating 
upon the iron. The face of the iron, before the steel 
is driven in, is well cleaned with a file, and of course 
a flux of borax applied. 

Flat edged tools, which are covered with a thin 
plate of steel on one side, such as carpenters' chisels, 
plane-irons, adzes, and instruments which require 
tenacity as well as hardness, are made by taking 
steel and iron, of a greater thickness than they are 
intended to be when finished, and drawing them out 



40 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

together, after welding, to the requisite dimensions. 
In a cast-steel factory, such chisels may be made by 
polishing the iron on that side where it is to be laid 
with steel, and, subjecting it to a gentle heat, the 
steel and iron may be firmly united by casting the 
former upon the latter. Both metals are here also to 
be drawn out together. 

The scarf-joint is but little used for welding iron 
and steel. If a rod of steel ifl to be welded to iron, 
as in stone-drills and similar tools, a cleft, or the 
split-joint, is preferred. The Bteel rod 18 then point- 
ed or drawn out into a chisel, and the iron rod cleft 
to receive it. 



BLISTERED STEEL. 

In the blacksmith's shop, blistered steel is more 
used than any other description. It certainly costs 
less -at first, and is to some extent improved by forg- 
ing, or welding it to iron ; but when its inferior qua- 
lity is considered, and the labour necessarily expend- 
ed on many tools of common use, such as pick-axes 
and mattocks, it is evident that the difference in the 
cost of the steel will effect but a slight reduction in 
the price of the tool; while its real value may be 



FORGING. 41 

much enhanced by the use of a superior quality of 
steel. 

The price of common blistered steel is about five 
cents per pound ; and of good shear or cast-steel, 
sixteen cents. Now, as a pick scarcely requires a 
quarter of a pound of steel, it is evident that the 
difference in the expense is not quite three cents. 
Cast and shear-steel are both made of blistered steel ; 
but the blistered steel commonly sold will not make 
good shear, and is certainly unfit for cast, steel. 
Good blistered steel — by which we mean steel made 
from good iron — cannot be sold at five cents per 
pound. Even if made of common charcoal bar-iron, 
it can scarcely be sold at that price. Swedish com- 
mon bar-iron commands almost as high a price as 
our ordinary blistered steel. Good cast-steel is made 
of a superior quality of Swedish iron, which costs 
nine cents a pound. Forging and hammering by a 
low heat will improve steel remarkably; but this 
improvement is scarcely perceptible, so far as tena- 
city is concerned. 



42 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



S H E A II - S T E E L . 

The most suitable steel for welding "with iron, is 
the shear, or double shear-steel ; it will stand the fire 
better than cast steel, and, if of good quality, is but 
slightly inferior to it in hardness. The variation in 
quality is, however, very considerable, and great en re 
is necessary in its manufacture. Edge-tools of a 
superior description are manufactured from shear- 
steel ; which, if good, poss< be requisites of dur- 
ability and tenacity. 



CAST-STEEL. 

In the manufacture of articles composed of steel 
and iron, cast-steel is but seldom used ; yet, there is 
a description of cast-steel made expressly for welding 
purposes, denominated welding cast-steel. It is fre- 
quently used in the manufacture of axes ; and some 
of the best now in use are made of this steel. It 
does not, however, although superior to shear-steel, 
assume the delicate edge and hardness of the best 
cast-steel. Very hard and fine varieties of cast-steel 
are but seldom, and then with extreme difficulty, 
welded to iron. In the manufacture of tools requir- 



FORGING. 48 

ing the use of cast-steel, such as cold-chisels, boring- 
bits, and tools for the turning and planing of metal, 
solid bars of cast-steel are employed ; this being, in 
many respects, the most economical method. 

WELDING STEEL. 

There is no difficulty experienced in welding to- 
gether two pieces of either the natural, German, 
blister, or shear-steel ; but, with cast-steel, the case is 
somewhat different. The first varieties of steel may 
be either welded one to the other, or two pieces of 
the same kind be welded together, in the usual way ; 
the only requisites being, a good forge, and the use 
of a flux of dry, pure clay. Steel of an inferior 
quality, may, by the use of a gentle heat, be drawn 
into small rods ; then fagotted, welded, and made into 
bars of any required weight and size. Good bitu- 
minous coal is almost indispensable for this purpose : 
forge-hammers are not necessary, the common sledge- 
hammer being sufficiently effective. 

Two pieces of cast-steel can be welded together, if 
proper care be used in the performance of the opera- 
tion. When two bars are to be welded lengthwise, 
they should be so tapered as to form a scarf-joint, and 
the scales on the tapered faces of the bars removed 
by the use of a file ; the faces of the bars may then 



44 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

be roughened like a rasp, and covered with a paste, 
of borax-glass, or calcined borax; after which the 
bars may be finally bound together by iron wire. In 
this condition the weld may be exposed to the action 
of a fire which is nearly at a -welding heat, and con- 
tains a sufficient quantity of ignited coal, to render 
the use of a blast almost unnecessary. When the 
steel has been softened to such an extent, that an im- 
pression can be made on its surface by an iron poker, 
and the borax has become perfectly fluid, the b 
may be cautiously removed from the fire to an anvil, 
previously heated, and there hammered gently with 
a small hand-hammer. The iron wires, being at eaeli 
end of the scarf, may be removed after the first heat. 
If the first heat does not prove sufficient, it may 
again applied, with the same precautions. Small 
rods of steel undergo a similar process in weldil 
with the exception, that but little pains is taken to 
roughen the connecting faces of the rods ; they are 
merely filed, before being joined together, and the 
powdered borax applied to the joint when the rods 
are sufficiently hot to melt it. 

The East Indians weld their wootz, by a process 
similar to that just described. They taper their rods, 
file and roughen them, then bind them together with 
wire, and apply the borax when they are hot. 



FORGING. 45 

A subject of some interest, and certainly of great 
importance, is the welding of steel to cast-iron. 
This may readily be effected if the steel be clean, a 
little heated, and protected by a flux of calcined bo- 
rax. The cast-iron, of course, is to be very hot, if 
the objects are small ; or the steel is to be heated to 
a high degree. The chief difficulty in this operation 
consists in the hardening of the steel so welded to 
the cast-iron ; for, in chilling the hot steel and iron 
together, the latter will either become brittle, and 
crack, or cause the steel to fly. If strong and pure 
grey cast-iron be used, this is not so apt to occur. 
Perhaps the best iron for this purpose is the Pitts- 
burgh dark-grey charcoal pig. The best kind of 
cast-steel is that which hardens by the lowest heat. 
If grey, strong cast-iron is not overheated, it loses, 
on cooling, but little of its strength, and is not very 
subject to hardening. Cast-iron is similar, in this 
respect, to steel. A good tempering of the cast-iron, 
after hardening, as steel is tempered, will restore, in 
a grsat measure, its lost tenacity. 



46 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



TEST OF THE QUALITY OF STEEL. 

The indications by which we distinguish good from 
bad steel are difficult to describe. Blistered steel, 
when the blisters are uniform in size, may generally 
be considered as of the best quality. Where tl; 
are but few blisters, and those of an irregular size, 
we should pronounce the steel of an inferior descrip- 
tion. Natural steel, German steel, and Bhear and 
cast-steel, are always bad if single Bparkling orysl 
show themselves in a fresh fracture. Generally 
speaking, any sparkling steel is bad; it is merely 
hard, impure iron. Good hardened steel, on frac- 
ture, presents a dead silvery appearance, and is of a 
uniformly white colour; in soft shear-steel, the fi 
ture has a bluish tint; and in soft cast-steel, it is of 
a greyish hue. In German and natural steel, the 
fracture has a soft bright grey tint, often inclined to 
fracture in the centre of the bar. 



THE HARDENING OF STEEL 

Is an operation which requires the exercise of 
some judgment. The usual method is to heat the 
steel to a certain point, and then plunge it suddenly 



FORGING. 47 

into cold water, tempering it afterwards. This method 
is undoubtedly the correct one ; but the degree of 
heat to which steel is to be exposed before cooling, is 
a matter of vast importance. Some steel — the na- 
tural, for instance — will bear a strong white heat, 
and a plunge into cold water, before it assumes its 
greatest hardness. Other steel, particularly fine 
cast-steel, will not bear more than a brown or cherry- 
red heat ; beyond that point it burns, and becomes 
brittle in hardening. It may safely be concluded, 
that steel which does not bear heat in forging, will 
not bear it in hardening. The heat at which steel 
falls to pieces, or melts, is too high for hardening, 
as steel hardened in such heat will fly or crack. The 
alterations manifest in steel after hardening, as com- 
pared with annealed steel, are the following : — Its 
volume is a little increased; the black scales which 
adhere to its surface fly off, and the surface appears 
clean, and of the colour and lustre of iron ; the frac- 
ture is brighter, and crystals are visible. Good steel, 
as we have said before, is silver-white, and is so hard 
that it will scratch pane-glass, and even a file. The 
cohesion, relative and absolute, is increased if the 
heat has not been too high before cooling. These 
are the chief characteristics of good steel, when 
hardened. 
5 



48 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

The phenomenon of hardening by sudden cooling 
is not peculiar to steel ; it belongs to all the alloys 
of metals, but is perhaps more characteristic of iron. 
There is not a bar of puddled iron in market which 
does not show all the phenomena of hardening and 
tempering as clearly as they are perceived in steel. 
Most- of the charcoal wrought-iron, particularly the 
hot-blast, shows the same phenomena. There is no 
difference in kind, but in degree. 

None but the best and purest charcoal wrought- 
iron is uninjured after cooling. It is a true test of the 
quality of pure fibrous iron, if a bar, heated to tho 
welding-heat, and suddenly plunged in cold water, 
does not harden or become brittle. Most of the bar- 
iron, on subjection to such a process, becomes as 
brittle as glass, and presents the appearance of an 
accumulation of crystals, without apparent connec- 
tion. Such iron may be made more fibrous and 
strong by being fagoted, welded, and drawn. 

The assertion of some writers and artisans that 
any iron which hardens by cooling is to be consider- 
ed steel, is unfounded in reality ; for every variety 
of iron in the market has this property. It is the 
tenacity and fine grain, or rather absence of gram, 
which distinguishes hardened steel from hardened 
iron Bar-iron, hardened, does not derive much 



FORGING. 49 

strength from tempering ; while steel, on the other 
hand, does so to a high degree. 

While it is true that bar and wrought-iron are very 
sensitive to the process of cooling, it is so in a far 
higher degree with cast-iron. This description of 
metal, if suddenly chilled, becomes, in most cases, so 
highly excited as to crack, or fly. The hardest cast- 
iron, if pure, may be converted into malleable iron, 
almost equal to wrought, by judicious tempering. 
Such tempered cast-iron, however, cannot be welded ; 
it becomes brittle again if heated, and cooled in the 
air. Slow tempering, however, will restore such re- 
hardened cast-iron to its malleable condition. The 
best and purest varieties of cast-iron become so ex- 
cessively hard on refrigeration, that the finest cast- 
steel, in its hardest condition, can be scratched by 
it ; but this hardened cast-iron is very brittle in its 
smallest particles, and flies to pieces when in large 
masses. 

It is not possible to give any distinguishing mark 
between steel, wrought-iron, and cast-iron. A che- 
mical test is even inadmissible. As a general fea- 
ture, however, we may say, that cast-iron cannot be 
forged or welded, or at least very imperfectly ; that 
wrought-iron feels softer under the hammer than steel, 
in forging ; and that both impure wrought and cast- 



50 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

iron become very brittle in hardening. The united 
hardness and tenacity of steel are its characteristics. 
Good cast-steel, or any other variety, if not freshly 
annealed or hardened, and if free from fissures, will 
emit a sonorous silvery tone when a suspended bar is 
struck. Iron, particularly if good, emits a dull, 
leaden sound ; while cast-iron gives out a tone like 
that of a cracked instrument. 

Steel is superior to wrought or cast-iron in all the 
characteristic qualities of that metal; it is stronger, 
tougher, harder, and more elastic than either ca8l pi 
wrought-iron : indeed, it is iron in its highest p 
fcction. 

TEST OF ST E B L, 

The surest test of the quality of steel ifl to draw 
a rod into a tapered point, harden it bj a gentle 

heat, and break off pieces from the point The de- 
gree of resistance to the hammer, which of con 

should be a very small one, is the test of the value 
of the steel. The best steel is that which, under 
this treatment, is found to be the toughest and 
strongest. 



FORGING. 51 



THE EXPANSION 

Of hardened steel is frequently the cause of great 
inconvenience to the workman. Steel welded to iron 
invariably draws the edge around, if it should be on 
but one side of the edge. It is also liable to become 
brittle when laid upon iron. These difficulties may 
be obviated by making the steel side convex, or tak- 
ing as little iron as possible. Files are never straight 
if made of natural steel, because that is in most 
cases but a mixture of iron and steel. In all cases 
where exactness after hardening is essential, the best 
kind of cast-steel is to be used ; neither blistered nor 
shear-steel can be trusted. The better the steel, the 
greater is its expansion in hardening. This expan- 
sion is in some measure reduced in tempering the 
steel, but not to the size in which it was received 
from the tilt. The expansion is greater where the 
steel has been heated to a high degree before refrige- 
ration, which may in some measure account for the 
brittleness of the metal when overheated. It is an 
important matter, in working steel, to keep it moving 
in the fire ; otherwise, on that side where the blast 
acts, it will lose its carbon, and will not shrink so 
much in hardening as those portions which have been 



52 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

protected. A good method of protecting steel is to 
keep a film of calcined borax, or any other flux, 
around it while in the fire, or to cover it with a paste, 
as is done in hardening files and mint-stamps. 

REFRIGERATING FLUIDS. 

In hardening steel, the hardness is derived, not so 
much from the degree of heat to which the metal is 
subjected, as the degree of cold of the cooling fluid, 
and the manner in which the cooling is performed. 
Steel must be heated to a certain degree, to assume 
its greatest hardness ; if heated below that point, it 
will not become hard, no matter what kind of cooling 
fluid we employ, or in what manner we refrigerate. 
If the proper degree of heat be obtained, it is in 
our power to make the steel more or less hard, by 
choosing more or less cold water, or other fluid, for 
chilling it. Many plans of refrigeration, and many 
refrigerating fluids, have been advised for hardening; 
but the most of them are of no practical utility. 
Pure well-water, taken fresh from the well, is the 
best element to cool in ; and it should be renewed at 
each operation. Well-water is everywhere, and at 
almost all seasons, of the same temperature ; and 
the smith shoul 1 use this for hardening the steel, to 



FORGING. 53 

ensure success. Hard well or spring-water is prefer- 
able to that of a softer quality, and should, if possi- 
ble, be obtained. Steel treated in this way assumes 
its greatest degree of hardness, and may afterwards 
be tempered to any extent. 

The manner of cooling is of some importance. If 
hot steel is held quietly in cold water, it will not be- 
come as hard as may be desirable, because the steam 
formed on the hot surface will prevent its rapid cool- 
ing. A motion backward and forward, or up and 
down in the water, greatly increases the hardness. 
For hardening large objects, a current or fall of 
water is indispensable. 

The different degrees of heat required for harden- 
ing steel, accordingly as that steel is of good quality, 
or has been more or less worked, or is welded to iron, 
or is in large or small pieces, makes it exceedingly 
difficult, and indeed practically impossible, to employ 
hardening and tempering fluids at the same time. 
The surest method is to impart to the steel, in the 
operation of hardening, the greatest degree of hard- 
ness of which it is susceptible, and temper it after- 
wards. 



64 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



HARDENING FILES. 

This process is one which has been brought to a 
high degree of perfection, and the experience gained 
in it has been advantageously applied in Other 
branches of manufacture. A file, after being cut, is 
dipped in a fluid of a cream-like consistence. This 
fluid is composed of a saturated solution of common 
salt in water, thickened by flour or meal of peas or 
beans. This paste melts into a fluid slag, and sur- 
rounds the file, protecting it against the influence of 
the fire and air. The file is uniformly heated in a 
common smith's forge, or in a small reverberatory 
furnace, and plunged vertically (except half-round 
and fancy files, which have a more or less horizontal 
inclination) into cold spring-water. Saw-files, and 
sculptors' files which are of iron, are hardened by 
using animal-charcoal powder with the flour paste, 
or using it and salt water only. Coal for this pur- 
pose is made by putting leather, tanners' scraps, or 
horns and hoofs, in a tight iron pot, and exposing the 
whole to a cherry-red heat. The spongy, black, and 
shining coal is then to be finely ground for use. 

Rubbing a hot file, or any piece of hot steel, with * 
a piece of charred leather, hoof, or horn, is not of 



FORGING. 55 

much use ; the glassy coating imparted by the salt is 
requisite to success. After files are hardened, they 
are brushed over with water and powdered charcoal, 
by which they become perfectly clear and metallic. 
After washing them repeatedly in fresh water to ex- 
tract the salt, they are dipped in lime-water, dried 
by the fire, and finally, while still warm, placed in a 
mixture of olive oil and turpentine. 



HARDENING OF NEEDLES, ETC. 

These are hardened in quantities of twenty-five 
pounds, which are heated together, and plunged in 
cold water, but so that almost each needle is sepa- 
rated from its fellow. Cutlery, such as knife-blades 
and similar articles, are held by the tangs, either in 
pairs or singly, heated to a cherry-red in the common 
forge, and plunged into cold water up to the tang. 
Sunk steel dies and mint-stamps are heated to the 
proper degree, and hardened under a current of fresh 
cold water, which is made to issue from a basin with 
great rapidity. 



56 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



THE MAKING OF STEEL DIES 

For stamping coins or medals, for impressing bank- 
note plates, and copper cylinders for calico printing, 
is an art of much importance. It requires consider- 
able skill, time and expense, to make such dies ; all 
of which may be lost by imperfect material, or mis- 
management in hardening or tempering. The first 
requisite to. M is the selection of the steel. 

Cast-steel is in all cases the best : and it should be 
cast-steel which has been manufactured at a low 
heat, well-cemented, and made of the best materials. 
All steel, without an exception, contains veins of un- 
equal hardness. Natural steel is the worst in * 
respect; blistered and shear are not much 1 
and even the best cast-Steel ifl not exempt from this 
characteristic. These veins are generally the cause 
of cracks. The steel, before it is selected for tie 
operations, is carefully washed over with dilute nitric 
acid, or aquafortis, which causes the damask veins or 
spots to appear at the surface. Steel for dies should 
be entirely free of such veins, and more particularly 
of cracks and ash-holes ; for detecting which latter, 
a lens is required. 

In cautiously and slowly tempering steel, the hard 



FORGING. 57 

veins and spots may be concealed, especially if it has 
been tempered in charcoal; but they will appear 
again in heating and forging the steel. These veins 
are less apparent in hardened steel, and would, in 
fact, be of but little consequence to the engraver, 
were it not for their greater liability to crack and fly 
than uniformly grained steel. Very much depends 
upon the die-sinker; he can spoil the best steel 
by faulty work ; that is, by overheating, or heating 
too often. Steel generally, and particularly this 
kind of steel, ought to be forged by the lowest pos- 
sible heat — as little as it can be done with, and no 
more. After the steel has been selected and forged 
into rolls, or dies of the desired form, it is annealed. 
The common way of annealing is to imbed the steel 
in coarse charcoal powder, in a crucible or iron pot, 
heat it to a cherry-red heat, and let the fire slowly 
go out, while the steel is in it. Animal coal is fre- 
quently substituted for charcoal, or mixed with it ; 
but one is as good as the other : the time which the 
steel remains in the fire is generally too short for the 
mixture to act upon it. This annealing is of the ut- 
most consequence in the subsequent engraving ope- 
ration, and also in hardening, and ought to be 
extended to the proper period ; six, or even twelve 
hours, are not sufficient to anneal steel to perfection. 



58 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

A low heat for twenty-four hours, or even twice that 
time, is not too much. 

When dies are engraved, they are next hardened ; 
but as the face of the engraving is to be faithfully 
preserved, it is protected by being covered over with 
a mixture of lamp-black and linseed oil. The whole 
is then imbedded in charcoal powder, in a pot, as in 
annealing, and finally plunged into cold spring-water, 
where it is rapidly moved about; or it may be cooled 
under a current of water. 

As such dies will not safely bear twice hardening, 
the heat by whicfa that particular kind of steel 
sumes its greatest hardness is to be ascertained by 
experiments upon a piece cut from the bar ; the die 
is then subjected to that heat. Dies and heavy 
bodies of steel are naturally exposed to craeks in 
hardening, resulting from its expansion. The inte- 
rior of a body of steel eannot shrink as much as the 
exterior, because it is protected by the surface steel. 
Nor can the hardening be of tho same degree in the 
interior as at the surface. 

For the reasons we have given, we may conclude 
that all round bodies of steel are more or less 
fractured at the periphery ; and experience, under 
all circumstances, will prove the correctness of this 
conclusion. 



FORGING. 59 

To prevent breakage as the result of these cracks, 
steel is to be tempered as soon as possible after har- 
dening, taking care that no impurities of any kind 
are in the water, which might fill the invisible cre- 
vices. Round bodies, such as dies and similar arti- 
cles, may be tempered by fitting a wrought-iron ring 
around them, first heating the ring to redness, and 
inserting the die or other object in it ; the ring, in 
cooling, will firmly compress the die, and secure it 
against subsequent flying. When the die thus in- 
serted receives its proper temper, which is indicated 
by the colour, it is thrown into cold water, or water 
of 60° or 80°, and cooled. After tempering, the die 
is boiled in water for some hours, and suffered to cool 
slowly in the water. This process increases its tena- 
city considerably, and makes the hardening and 
strain more uniform throughout the body of the 
steel. 

The liability of dies and other engraved steel in- 
struments to break in hardening, or oftentimes hours 
after hardening, is rather a serious matter ; for it 
may cause great loss to an artist. Every kind of 
steel is not liable to shrinkage, and consequently less 
liable to breaking. Steel containing much carbon is 
more liable to crack than where it is of a less carbon- 
iferous quality. The practice of imbedding steel in 



60 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

animal or wood-charcoal, is therefore not judicious 
when steel is saturated with carbon, as is the case 
with the not-welding cast-steel. Steel with hard and 
soft spots or veins is also more liable to breakage 
than uniform steel. The latter steel generally con- 
tains less carbon than other steel of the same hard- 
ness; slow tempering in liard charcoal will make it 
more uniform, and be a guard against cracks. Grade 
German steel does not shrink, and, if moderately 
heated and hardened, will not crack ; but if heated 
to such an extent as to acquire its full degree of 
hardness, it becomes very brittle. The steel made 
of this erode material shrinks and cracks, though not 
so much as cast-steel; still, it never assumes that 
uniform hardness and tenacity which characterize the 
last-named variety. 

A number of plans have been devised to avert the 
danger of breaking dies, matrices and die-rollers, in 
hardening them ; but there is nothing better or more 
safe than slow and careful annealing, gentle heat in 
hardening, clear hard spring-water, and time and pa- 
tience in tempering. The roller-dies for bank-note 
plates, and copper calico-printing rollers — an inven- 
tion of the late Jacob Perkins, of Massachusetts — 
are hardened in this simple manner, the often very 
delicate engraving being protected by a chalk paste, 



FORGING. 61 

which admirably answers the purpose. Other means 
of protection, such as plunging the heated steel in 
oil, hot or cold, or in melted lead, or a composition 
of metals, are uncertain in their results, and liable 
to failure ; because, even if the oil, metals and heat 
are always the same, the steel is not — one kind of 
steel, or a particular kind of work, acquiring more 
hardness by the same treatment than another. 



HARDENING BY COMPRESSION. 

Among the various methods of hardening is that 
in spring-water, the most simple and most safe ; but 
there are some small articles to which we cannot give 
their highest degree of hardness and tenacity in this 
way. These are engravers' tools, surgical instru- 
ments, &c, which may be hardened to a high degree 
by being hammered with a very small hammer, well 
polished, on a hard, polished anvil. Delicate instru- 
ments assume by this practice a high degree of hard- 
ness, and a finer edge and more elasticity than can 
be given to them by any other mode of hardening. 
The conical holes in the wire draw-plate are hardened 
in the same way. 



62 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



ANNEALING. 

Of steel is a necessary operation in all cases where 
filing or engraving is to be done. The steel, as it 
comes from the anvil, is too hard for the file and the 
chisel, and must be softened or annealed before it is 
ready for the engraver. The common method of an- 
nealing is to heat the steel to a gentle redness off the 
tuyere, and leave it in the ashefl of the hearth until 
cold. The slower this operation is performed, the 
more uniform and soft will the steel be. Tempering 
in a pot, imbedded in sand or chalk, or any dry pow- 
der, is preferable to the open fire. Some authorities 
recommend pastes and powders of various composi- 
tions for annealing; but all such preparations are 
fallacious. Nothing more i> requisite than heat, and 
the exclusion of atmospheric air or oxygen. 



TEMPERING. 

Steel properly hardened, is as hard as its peculiar 
quality permits it to become. In this state it is ge- 
nerally too brittle to be of any practical use, and it 
is necessary to temper it before it is exposed to any 
strain on its tenacity. Small tools are generally 



FORGING. 63 

tempered after hardening, by covering the surface 
with a film of tallow or oil, then heating the steel 
until the oil diffuses a black smoke, or burns, or 
ceases to burn, and then plunging it in cold water. 
Picks, mattocks, blasting tools, and similar imple- 
ments, are tempered by heating the heavy part from 
behind the edge or point, driving the heat towards 
the point. One side of the edge being ground white, 
shows the tempering colours ; and when the proper 
colour is arrived at, the steel is cooled just at the 
point, but not the heavy iron behind it. Many me- 
chanics harden and temper their common tools in the 
same heat, by merely dipping the hot point or edge 
in cold water ; the heat of the heavier parts is then 
transmitted to the hardened edge, after it is removed 
from the cold water. When the proper colour is 
gained, which is ascertained by scratches of a dull 
file, the tool is cooled by dipping it in water. This 
latter process requires some experience, or the steel 
is apt to become either too hard or too soft, and 
require renewed hardening; which, of course, is 
injurious to the steel. 

Instruments which are designed to be very perfect, 
are polished all over, and then heated to the temper- 
ing colour. Small articles, such as knife-blades, are 
set in large numbers with their tangs in a heavy steel 



64 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

or iron plate ; that plate is then heated, and, when 
the proper colour is on the blades, each is singly 
plunged into cold water. Needles are tempered in 
masses, by burning oil upon them. Saw-blades, and 
large articles generally, are tempered in hot sand ; 
the sand being heated to a certain point, which is 
tested by the thermometer. Sometimes this precau- 
tion is not taken ; and the course then is to watch 
the articles until they obtain the requisite colour, 
when they arc hardened in either air or water. 

The colour- to which steel can be tempered may 
be approximately stated thus: The hardest artie 
which do not require much Btrength, should assume 
a faint yellow; surgical instruments, razors, and en- 
gravers' tools, a pale straw-colour; knives, cold chi- 
sels, and bore-bits, yellow ; chisels, -bears, hamUK 
anvils, and some varieties of saw-blades, dark yel- 
low; axes, plane-irons, carpenters 1 tools generally, 
and most edged tools, brownish purple ; table-knives, 
weapons, and scissors, purple; watch-spring-, saws, 
and augers, light blue ; common saws, heavy watch- 
springs, carriage-springs, and springs generally, 
blue ; articles which require strength, but in which 
hardness is a secondary consideration, dark blue. 
Beyond dark blue the colour is black, and the steel 
is perfectly soft. 



FORGING. 65 

These colours are only approximating the sub- 
ject ; for the various kinds of steel will show a dif- 
ferent degree of hardness in being tempered to the 
same colour. The naturally soft steel should have 
a shade or two less temper than that of the hardest 
description. 

Many propositions have been made by scientific 
men to harden steel in fusible metal compositions, to 
avoid tempering; or to temper the steel in such 
metals ; or to temper in a bath of lead heated to a 
certain degree, measured by the thermometer, &c. 
All these things are very well as scientific recom- 
mendations, and we shall' speak of them in another 
place. They are of little practical value, however ; 
for it is not the absolute degree of heat in harden- 
ing, or the difference in heat and cold, or the degree 
of the tempering bath, which decides the superiority 
or inferiority of hardened instruments of steel. The 
quality and description of the steel, the manner and 
mode of working it, the form and the fuel, are mat- 
ters w r hich influence the degree of heat in hardening, 
and also in tempering. In all cases of this kind, the 
simplest way of working is the best ; the skill and 
dexterity of the worker in steel is a better guarantee 
of success than all the artificial compositions of cool- 
ing and tempering mediums. A good, skilful work- 



66 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

man knows by the bearing of his steel under the 
hammer what degree of heat is most suitable for the 
kind of steel under his management, and will harden 
and temper according to his own convictions. 



DAMASCUS STEEL. 

To imitate or make Damascus steel in the forge by 
welding together steel and iron which has been bound 
in fagots, or any other form composed of thin r< 
is an experiment generally attended with but ill suc- 
cess. The quality of steel, as we Bhall explain here- 
after, depends so much upon the quality of the ore 
and iron from which it is made, as not to offer any 
hope of success in the attempt to make good Bteel in 
the forge. Damascus gun-barrels are made by weld- 
ing strips of iron and steel together; but in hard 
ing such compositions, the advantages are small in 
respect to tenacity, and the loss is considerable in 
hardness. 

Gun-barrels, which are of course not hardened, 
are certainly superior when made in this way to those 
forged in any other manner ; but this is not the e 
with edged instruments. A kind of Damascus steel 
for weapons is still imitated by some French cutlers ; 



FORGING. 67 

but it is so expensive a process, and the blades are 
so slightly, if at all, superior to those of the ordinary 
manufacture, that this is more of a curiosity than any- 
thing else. 

CASE-HARDENING 

Is that process by which the surface of iron is 
converted into steel. This is a very useful art, and 
deserves to be more cultivated than it is at present. 
In this process, the surface of iron may be made 
harder than the hardest steel, and still retain all its 
malleability. Steel, when hardened, is brittle, and 
tools or keys of steel are liable to break. If case- 
hardened, however, they combine all the advantages 
of steel and iron. 

The articles to be case-hardened are to be well 
polished ; and if the iron is not quite sound, or shows 
ash-holes, it is hammered over and polished again — 
the finer the polish, the better. The articles are 
then imbedded in coarse charcoal powder, in a 
wrought-iron box, or pipe, which should be air-tight. 
A pipe is preferable to a box, because it can be 
turned, and the heat applied to it more uniformly. 
The whole is then exposed for twenty-four hours to 
a gentle cherry-red heat, in the flue of a steam-boiler, 



68 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

or in some other place where the heat is uniformly 
kept up. This makes a very hard surface, and, on 
large objects, one-eighth of an inch in depth n 
be thus obtained. If so much time cannot be given 
to the operation, and no deep hardening is required, 
the articles are imbedded in animal charcoal, or in a 
mixture of animal and wood coal; four or five hours' 
heat will make a good surface of steel. If a sit 
article, a small key, or any other tool, is to be hard- 
ened, the c<>al must be finely pulverised, and mixed 
into a paste with B saturated solution of Bait; with 
this paste the iron is well covered and dried. Over 
the paste is laid a coating of clay, moistened with 
salt water, which is also gently dried. The whole is 
now exposed to a gradually increased heat, up to a 
bright red, but not beyond it. This will give a line 
surface to small objects. In all . the article is 

plunged in cold water when heated the proper time, 
and up to the proper degree. 

A quick mode of case-hardening small objects is 
that by prussiate of potash. The iron is well pol- 
ished, and heated to a dark-red heat ; it is then 
rolled in a box containing powder of the yellow prus- 
siate of potash, or sfrinkled with it; the powder will 
melt on the surface, and the iron is then heated to a 
bright-red, and plunged in cold water. The powder 



FORGING. 69 

of the prussiate is obtained by exposing the crystals 
to a gentle heat in an open iron box, or pot, for the 
purpose of evaporating the water contained in them ; 
the remainder is a white powder. Some persons 
recommend the mixing of one-third camphor with the 
prussiate. As the camphor melts at a lower heat 
than the prussiate, and causes it also to melt, the 
whole operation can be performed at a lower heat, 
which is certainly an improvement. Calcined borax 
has also been proposed to be mixed with the prussiate ; 
but we do not know with what effect it operates. To 
mix prussiate in clay, as recommended by some, is 
not of much use, as it requires too much labour to 
put the clay around the article ; in these cases, the 
above recipe of coal, salt and clay, is all-sufficient. 

In the operation of case-hardening there is not the 
slightest difficulty; any degree of hardness may be 
given, and almost any depth. The addition of salt, 
bone-ashes or bone-black, animal charcoal, hoof, horn 
or leather, to the charcoal powder, will regulate the 
degree of hardness ; and the time of its exposure to 
the action of heat must be governed by the depth of 
steel required. 

While the performance of the operation is simple, 
it is not so easy to select the proper kind of iron. 
If the iron is of coarse fibre, the hai lened and pol- 



70 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

ished surface will be unsound ; if it is impure, it will 
be brittle after being hardened. The surest way is 
to select a very fine, close-grained iron, heat a piece 
of it a little beyond the heat by which it is to be 
hardened, and plunge it into cold water. If it re- 
tains its fibre and malleability, and is free from ash- 
holes, it may be selected as fit for the purpose. 

Edges, however hard they may be, are never good 
if made of case-hardened iron ; it is not in the na- 
ture of the materials, nor of the process, to produce 
such a result. 

The most expeditious method of case-hardening is 
to imbed the article in borings of grey cast-iron, in 
a sheet-iron box, which may be open at the top, and 
covered with fine dry sand. These borings are a better 
conductor of heat than charcoal, and the article is 
therefore very soon covered with a coating of steel. 
A very little salt may be added to the borings ; or a 
mixture of borings, charcoal, bone-coal, animal coal, 
scraps of horn, hides, leather, and other materials 
of the kind, may be used to advantage. 



VARIETIES OF STEEL. 71 



CHAPTER II. 

VARIETIES OF STEEL. 

Among the numerous kinds of steel, we recog- 
nize but few which are at present current. These 
are blistered steel, shear-steel, cast-steel, and Ger- 
man steel ; the other varieties are simply modifi- 
cations of these. The first is almost the only quality 
at present manufactured in the United States ; a 
small portion of cast-steel is made, but so small as 
to be scarcely worth mentioning. About eight thou- 
sand tons of iron are annually converted into steel, 
in this country ; of which about five hundred tons are 
melted into cast-steel, and the rest is principally used 
as blistered steel for springs and saws, and consumed 
by the manufacturers themselves. German steel 
also was formerly manufactured, particularly in New 
Jersey and some parts of Pennsylvania ; but we are 
not aware that this u now the case. Little of the 
American steel is brought into market. 

There are some kinds of steel which have but an 
7 



72 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

historic interest for us — such as the Asiatic Dainas 
cus steel, Indian wootz, and similar varieties — which, 
as belonging to the manufacture, and therefore de- 
serving of notice, we shall mention in subsequent 
pages. Such steel, however, is not found in our 
market as merchandise. 



w o o t z . 

The most ancient steel historically known appears 
to be the Indian cast-steel, or " Wootz." The ancient 
Egyptians imported steel from Asia and Bombay, 
via Persia — the great high roads of the Indian trade. 
At the time of the invasion of India by Alexander 
the Great, when the Greeks made their weapons of 
bronze, wootz was manufactured in India. English 
travellers in modern times have been very inquisitive 
as to the mode of manufacturing wootz among the 
Asiatics, and also as to the material from which it is 
made. They have succeeded very well ; but the 
operation is of such a nature, that we cannot derive 
much practical benefit from it. 

Wootz is made of magnetic iron ore, such as we 
have in great abundance in the States of New York, 
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This ore, which is 
naturally mixed with quartz, and which appears to 



wootz. 73 

be very impure — for nearly half of it is quartz — is 
finely pulverized, and the impurities winnowed away. 
The fine ore is then moistened with water and formed 
into cakes, to prevent its running down through the 
hot coal in the smelting furnace. The furnace is of 
the form of one of our cupolas, about four feet high, 
and two feet wide at the bottom by one at the top. 
The furnace is charged with charcoal, and thoroughly 
heated. The breast or front opening, which is about 
a foot wide, is then closed and dried, and a certain 
quantity of ore is laid upon the hot coal, at the top 
of the furnace. The furnace is kept filled with fresh 
coal, and the blast applied. This is made by two 
goat-skins, which, being worked alternately by hand, 
make a uniform blast. The nozzles are of bamboo 
sticks, fastened to the neck of the skin; the tail, 
and a similar bamboo, forming the valve, which is 
shut and opened by hand. The tuyere is made of 
clay. 

From three to four hours generally finishes the 
blast. The breast-wall is then broken open, and the 
iron from the interior of the furnace removed. The 
metal, then in the form of a cake, is beaten down 
with wooden mallets, and cut so as to show the inte^ 
rior, but not broken ; in which form it is ready for 
the market. The ore yields about fifteen per cent. 



74 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

of iron. It is from the iron thus obtained that the 
wootz, or Indian steel, is made. This iron is cut into 
small pieces, and charged with about ten per cent, of 
dry wood in crucibles. The crucibles are made of 
fire-clay, mixed with the charred husks of rice. One 
pound of iron is generally a charge for a crucible : 
it is covered with a couple of green leaves, and 
a layer of fire-clay rammed on closely. This cruci- 
ble, when charged, is gently dried to expel all the 
water and hydrogen. From twenty to twenty-four 
of such crucibles are then built, in the form of an 
arch, into a small furnace, and covered by charcoal 
all around, when fire is applied, and this at last urged 
by blast. Two or two and a half hours of blast ge- 
nerally finish the work ; the crucibles are then re- 
moved from the fire, and allowed to cool. When 
cold, the crucibles are broken up, and the steel is 
found in the bottom, in the form of a cake. Good 
cakes show a radial crystallization on the upper sur- 
face, and are free from holes and blisters. An im- 
perfect fusion shows a rough surface, or honeycomb 
appearance, with lumps of malleable iron. In this 
form the steel is brought into market, and corrected, 
in re-melting the cakes, by fusing many together, 
and running them into ingots like common cast-steel. 
It is said that wootz which has been re-melted in this 



DAMASCUS STEEL. 75 

way is superior for the manufacture of cutlery to 
any cast-steel. 

In this process of converting iron-ore, first into 
iron, and then into steel, we find all the elements of 
our present mode of doing the same business. The 
blast-furnace of the Asiatics is, on a small scale, our 
present blast-furnace ; though, owing to their imper- 
fect operation, the ore which yields them but fifteen 
per cent, of iron would, in our hands, yield at least 
sixty or seventy per cent. Instead of using, as they 
probably do, twenty tons of fuel, we use but two 
tons for the same quantity of iron. The Asiatic 
mode of converting iron into steel is the mode we 
follow at the present day ; the only difference being 
that we divide the operation into cementing and melt- 
ing, while they perform both in the same heat. It 
is not the place here to inquire what is the prefera- 
ble mode of manufacturing steel ; but we shall con- 
sider the subject thoroughly in some of our subse- 
quent pages. 

DAMASCUS STEEL — DAMASCUS BLADES. 

These kre terms applied to a kind of steel which 
shows a variegated, watery appearance, on the pol- 
ished surface. It is originally from Asia, and the 



76 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

scimitars, or swords, chiefly from Damascus, where 
the art of manufacturing blades appears to be best 
understood. The excellent quality of this cutlery, 
particularly scimitars, has long been proverbial; no 
other steel has been found to equal it in tenacity and 
hardness. The process by which this steel is worked 
is not known ; it is a secret faithfully preserved 
among those who are engaged in the manufacture. 
European artisans and scientific men have endea- 
voured to imitate the Asiatic damask, but with ill 
success ; the form and appearance of the steel has 
been imitated, but its quality has never been equalled. 
French manufacturers, particularly, have wasted a 
great deal of time and means in such attempts. The 
probable cause of the superior quality of this steel is 
in the raw material, the ore ; and it may in some 
measure be attributable to the skill of the artisan who 
manufactures the blades. It has been ascertained 
that the ingots of wootz of which the oriental Damas- 
cus is made come from Golconda ; and it is therefore 
probable that it is manufactured in the same manner 
as the Indian wootz before described. This supposi- 
tion is strengthened by the great value of the blades, 
and the peculiarities of the wootz. 

Alexander Burnes, in his journey to Cabool, tells 
us that a scimitar was shown him in that city which 



DAMASCUS STEEL. 77 

was valued at five thousand rupees, and two others 
at fifteen hundred each. The first was forged in 
Ispahan, in the time of Abbas the Great. The pe- 
culiar value of this weapon consisted in its uniform 
damask; the "water" could be traced upon it, like 
a skein of silk, the entire length of the blade. Had 
this "water" been interrupted by a curve or cross, 
the blade would have been of little value. One of the 
cheaper weapons was also of Persian make ; its water 
did not run straight, parallel with the blade, but was 
waved like a watered silk fabric. It had belonged to 
Nadir Shah. The third scimitar was a Khorassan 
blade ; there were neither straight nor waved lines in 
it, but it was mottled with black spots. All three 
blades were strongly curved, but the first more so 
than the others. They tinkled like a bell, and were 
said to improve by age. How very interesting these 
accidental remarks of the traveller are in respect to 
the manufacture of steel generally, we shall show 
hereafter. 

Imitations of Damascus steel are made daily, and 
have been made for the last fifty years ; and there is 
no doubt some good has resulted from these experi- 
ments. The real value of the imitations, however, 
is quite limited, and we shall say but little about it. 
Damask steel has been made and is made of such 



78 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

perfectly developed veins, by welding together bun- 
dles of small slips of steel and iron, or steel of dif- 
ferent kinds, that all imaginable figures which can be 
delineated by hand have been imitated. The smooth 
water, the waved water, a torsion of the damask, and 
the spotted damask, have all been produced ; names, 
letters, inscriptions, leaves and flowers, have been 
represented; but all these pretty things do not make 
Damascus blades of equal quality with those of 
Asiatic manufacture. It appears the Persians do not 
use so much skill in forging, but depend upon the 
elements. Recent experiments have Bhown that when 
blades are cooled slowly, as by .-winging them in the 
air, a damask is produced on steel highly charged 
with carbon. This, however, is nothing new; for 
the next best blades to those of oriental manufacture 
— the blades of Solingen — have been hardened or 
tempered in that way for centuries. It is certainly 
the most perfect mode of hardening steel, wli 
tenacity also is desirable. 

It is said that one hundred parts of soft iron, and 
two parts of lamp-black, melted together, make a 
fine steel, of great strength. It is also said that 
equal parts of cast and wrought-iron turnings make 
a fine steel, of damask quality, which is superior for 
arms and edged tools. There is no doubt that, by 



DAMASCUS STEEL. 79 

such means as the foregoing, an imitation of the ap- 
pearance of damask steel may be effected ; but it will 
depend entirely on the quality of the steel, the iron, 
the cast-iron, the lamp-black, or the crucibles, whe- 
ther the resemblance will extend to the quality of the 
steel. Impure materials will, under all circumstances, 
make bad steel ; and if we have good, pure iron, we 
can make good steel in a cheaper way than that 
proposed. 

Some experiments have been made by melting 
together cast-iron, carbon and alumina, so that the 
molten iron contained aluminum. A portion of this 
aluminous iron was melted together with blistered 
steel, and the result was a steel very much like the 
wootz; it showed damask very distinctly. Other 
manufacturers than those who made the experiments, 
however, assert that aluminum is no necessary part 
of Damascus steel. 

The damask veins may be made to appear on the 
surface of polished steel by washing it with a thin 
solution of sulphuric or muriatic acid, which will dis- 
solve the softer parts of the steel first, or those parts 
which contain least carbon ; after which the steel is 
washed in fresh water, and oiled, or waxed. We do 
not know whether or not the orientals bring out their 
damask in a similar way ; but are inclined to believe 



80 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

that they do not. In some parts of Europe — Spain, 
Portugal, and portions of Italy — steel is buried under 
ground, often for months together, to improve its 
quality. May not this be the manner in which the 
orientals etch their blades ? 



GERMAN STEEL. 81 



CHAPTER III. 

GERMAN STEEL— NATURAL STEEL. 

In a few places, such as the east of Europe, and 
in Russia, steel is made in wolfs, or blue-ovens ; a 
kind of high furnace, or blast-furnace, in which a 
certain quantity of ore is melted ; the iron gathers in 
the hearth, and is then broken out and cut to pieces, 
by which the iron and steel are separated. It is thus 
a similar process to that followed by the Asiatics in 
making wootz, except that the apparatus is larger, 
and more iron is made at a time. This process is of 
little practical value, and is possessed of merely an 
historic interest. 

German steel derives its name, not from being of 
a peculiar quality, though that is the case, but from 
the manner in which it is manufactured. It is al- 
ways made of pig or plate iron, in forges where 
charcoal is used for fuel. Natural steel may be made 
of grey pig-iron, or of white plate-iron ; the latter is 



82 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



FJ*. 11. 



the cheapest method, and produces the best steel. As 
we cannot make that peculiar white plate-iron, which 
the Germans call steel-iron, and which is made from 
the sparry carbonate of iron as its ore, because we 
have no such ore, we shall not say much about the 
manufacture of steel from such peculiar ore 

The fires or forges used for making this kind of 
steel are the common forge-fires of the smithy, gene- 
rally known as the charcoal forge-fires. They resem- 
ble the bloomery fires, the only difference being in 
some minor points of dimension. In fig. 1 L, BUeh a 

forge-fire is represented, in a 
section through its tuyere. 
The chief object here is a 
stack or chimney, A, which 
is from twenty to forty feet 
high, and of the width inside 
of two Peel Ot more, so as to 
absorb all the heat and smoke 
from the fire. B is the hearth 
or forge-fire, the dimensions 
of which vary according to 
the quality of the crude iron, the quality of steel to 
be made, the kind of charcoal used, the description 
of blast, and the peculiarities of the workman. We 
shall allude to these dimensions hereafter. This 




■ 



GERMAN STEEL 



83 



hearth forms a square, or often an oblong, basin. 
The four sides are cast-iron plates ; in many cases, 
however, they are made of stones, or fire-brick. The 
bottom is formed of sandstone ; and it depends very 
much upon the composition of this sandstone, of 
-what quality the steel will be. C is the tuyere of 
copper, which may be replaced by iron ; but a water 
tuyere, as is used in the iron forge, will not do here. 
D is the blast-pipe and nozzle ; the latter is to be 
moveable, and is therefore connected with the main- 
pipe. Hot blast cannot be applied here as is done 
in making iron. The blast-pipe, which is five or six 
inches wide, and made of tin-plate or sheet-iron, is 
provided with a throttle valve, so as to regulate the 
blast at pleasure, according to the requirements of 
the work. E is merely a column of iron, wood, or 
stone, designed to support a sheet-iron hood, or roof, 
w T hich is to protect the workman, and carry off the 
heat. The chimney, foundations, and walls, may be 
built of either brick or stone, 
as most convenient. 

In fig. 15 the same forge- 
fire is represented from 
above. It is here assumed 
that two fires are at the 
same stack ; if necessary, 
8 



Fin. 15. 




84 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



more than two may be erected to one chimney. This 
figure requires but little explanation. A is the chim- 
ney, B B the fire-hearths ; in fact, the references 
used in fig. 14 denote the same objects here. 



THE BLAST 

Is made by strong blacksmiths' bellows, of which 
there should be two pair, driven by water-power, or 
any other force; or the bellows may be of wood) in 

the form of the common leather bellows, or either 
wooden or iron cylinders. A powerful blast is not 
so requisite here as in making wrought-iron. The 
best blast for the purpose would be a good fan, such 
as is now generally in u 



Pig. i«». 



Fig. 17 





Fig. 16 represents a fan of the improved form, 
-which makes at least twice the pressure of the old 



GERMAN STEEL. 35 

fan ; the engraving shows a horizontal section through 
the centre shaft of the vanes. Fig. 17 is a vertical 
section of the fan. The shaft is made of steel, the 
four vanes of copper, and the cross arms which carry 
the vanes are of brass or wrought-iron. The four 
vanes are enclosed in, and fastened to, two rings of 
sheet-copper, which form with the vanes a round box, 
open at the periphery and at the centres. The air 
enters at the centre, and is expelled at the periphery. 
This round box, w r hich is composed of the axle, the 
cross, the four vanes, and the two sides in one piece, 
moves in a cast-iron case of the form of the common 
fans. The blast is driven out at some convenient 
place in the circumference of the outer or stationary 
case ; it makes no difference where, or at what place 
in the periphery, this is done. The inner case fits as 
closely as possible with its rims to the cast-iron case. 
The two cases are bored and turned on the lathe, 
where they meet in the centre. 

FORGE-HAMMERS. 

Besides forge-fires, there are to be hammers or 
tilts, for forging and refining natural steel. Up to 
the present period, we have had no better machinery 
than the old, well-known tail-hammer ; that is, a tilt 



86 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



which is chiefly built of wood, and where the moving 
power is attached to the tail-end of the hammer-helve. 
For a series of years, improvements in the old form 
of construction have been proposed and executed, but 
with ill success ; there is hardly anything known that 
can be considered an improvement on this primitive 
mode. 

Fig. 18 shows a side view of a common tilt, as it 
is used in this country, England, Germany, &e. 
There are often slight deviations in the form, but in 
the main it is everywhere the same. This figure also 

18, 




explains itself; it shows the hammer, whose helve, 
of dry white oak or hickory, is from six to seven feet 
long, according to the weight of the hammer. The 
hammer-head should be of wrought-iron, and its face 



GERMANSTEEL. 87 

plated with one inch thick of cast-steel, well hardened 
and polished. 

For the forging of scythes, files, and other small 
articles, the hammer-head is of about fifty pounds in 
weight ; for drawing loups and refining, the weight 
is increased to two hundred pounds. The head is 
secured to the helve by wooden wedges, into which 
wedges of iron are driven. The eye of the helve is 
tapered on both sides, like an axe, which prevents 
its flying off. The wooden wedges are used for the 
protection of the helve and head. At the tail-end, 
the helve is provided with a strong iron ring, or hoop, 
firmly fastened to the helve. This hoop (sometimes 
there are more than one) holds a flat steel bar, which 
rests upon the helve, and upon which the cams or 
wipers strike. Below the helve, at the tail, is another 
iron or steel plate, held by the hoops, which strikes 
upon a piece of timber so laid as to spring back when 
pressed down by the hammer. This wooden spring 
is provided with a steel or iron plate, upon which the 
tail end of the hammer strikes. 

The practice, in lifting the hammer, is not to raise 
it slowly, according to the speed of gravitation, but 
to strike the tail of the hammer with great speed, and 
fling the hammer so that the wiper merely touches 
the tail. The hammer, in being moved with great 



88 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

velocity, touche3 the spring-timber under the tail, and 
the head is forced down by this recoil upon the hot 
steel on the anvil. The lift of the8e hann ! in 

most cases but a few inches; of the heaviest, but 
eight or ten inches. The force is chiefly prodv 
by recoil. The speed of these hammers is unusually 
great, the heaviest kind making from two hundred to 
two hundred and fifty stroke- per minute. Small 
hammer-, for forging thin or small articles, make 
from four to five hundred strokes in tie 



THE FACES 

Of the hammers are from five to nine inches long, 

and from one and a half to two and a half inches 

wide The anvil is in most instances made of WTOUght- 

iron ; and a hardened steel plate, a little wider than 

the face of the hammer, is dovetailed and wedged in, 

as represented in fig. 10. The 

,g ' ._ anvil may also be made of cast-iron, 

rff^f^ y- and the cast-steel welded to it when 

casting the block ; an operation 

now very well performed in a fac- 



tory in Trenton, N. J. The anvil 
is fastened by wedges in a heavy 
wooden log, which extends eight feet or more under 



GERMAN STEEL. 89 

ground; so deep, that the earth is sufficiently solid 
to resist the farther depression of the log. If the 
ground should be too loose, swampy or sandy, piles 
should be driven, and the anvil-log set upon them. 
The anvil-log is frequently three feet or more in dia- 
meter, taking the butt-end uppermost, and is provided 
on both ends with strong iron hoops, which prevent its 
splitting. The position of the anvil-log is a serious af- 
fair in erecting a hammer ; if not well supported below, 
it will sink ; and a rock foundation is equally bad, for 
on it the log is crushed. To protect the wood, and 
afford stability to the anvil, the vertical log is pro- 
vided with a cast-iron crown, or chabote, which weighs 
from one to three tons. This chabote is fastened 
upon the log, and the anvil is set in a square hole on 
its upper face. This iron block receives the momen- 
tum of the strokes, and protects the anvil-log against 
sinking and crushing. Stone foundations for the 
anvil are expensive and insecure. 



THE PILLARS, 

Or housings in w T hich the fulcrum of the hammer 
is fixed, are in most cases made of good hard wood. 
There are also cast-iron frames for this purpose ; but, 
considering the first cost of such iron frames, and 



90 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



their short durability, there is nothing gained in 
using that metal for these standards. We will d 
therefore, further allude to iron standards, but pro- 
ceed to describe the construction of those which 
made of wood. 

The two pillars of the housing are made of g 
white oak, eleven or twelve feet long, ten or twelve 
inches thick, and about twenty-four inches wide. In 
case >uch heavy timber cannot he had, I 
bolted together by iron screw-bolts. About three 

four feet of the two pillars Are above ground. The 

part below ground is provided with C 

as shown in fig. 20, which is a view of the hammer 




from above. The timbers, A, BB, are from five to 
six or more feet long, and are fastened to the pillars 
by screw-bolts, which are from eighteen inches to 
two feet apart. Below the surface of the earth, 
the cross-timbers arc securely held down by heavy 
blocks of stone, and firmly walled into the ground, 



GERMAN STEEL. 91 

so as to prevent all possible motion of the tim- 
bers. This stone-work can scarcely be too heavy. 
Above ground, the space between the pillars is open, 
to receive the fulcrum of the hammer. The fulcrum, 
F, which is fastened to the hammer-helve by wedges, 
is made of cast-iron with chilled points, or of wrought- 
iron with steel points. In the wooden pillars, two 
cast-iron plates of hard metal are inserted, with some 
half a dozen holes to receive the points of the ful- 
crum. These plates are from two to three inches 
thick, eight wide, and sixteen inches long. They are 
inserted in the wood so as to be moveable ; for the 
adjustment of the hammer and anvil faces is regu- 
lated by the shifting of these plates. Wooden wedges 
are used for fastening these blocks, as iron screw- 
bolts do not resist the raking force of the hammer. 
In making these plates large, so as almost to cover 
the interior of the pillars, and providing them with 
a sufficient number of screws, we no doubt gain an 
advantage ; they are certainly preferable to the small 
plates. There is no need of large holes for the screw- 
bolts, if the plates are provided with various centre- 
holes. The pillars above ground are held together 
by three iron bolts, which serve in the mean time to 
hold the pillars close in the points of the fulcrum. 
Hammers are generally worked by water-power, 



92 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

partly because the speed n< rily varies, and such 

variation can be most conveniently regulated by a 
small water-wheel — partly also because the first out- 
lay is generally less for a water-wheel than for a 
steam-engine — but chiefly, because the running cost 
is lower by the water-wheel. 

The tap-ring is invariably a cast-iron hoop, of 
or eight inches wide and three or four inches thick, 
in which there are from eight to twenty-four wipers. 
The cams, or vipers, are either of cast-iron, wrought- 
iron, or (if small) of steel, wedged by wood into the 
square holes of the ring. The ring 18 to he of at 
least four feet diameter; it may even he larger. 
Small tap-rings are very injurious to the hammer and 
its frame. 

The shaft is sometimes of wood ; but cast-iron is 
the best. It may he made hollow, to increa 
strength with the same weight. The water-wheel, 
which is on the same shaft with the tap-ring, is either 
of wood or iron, but is to be strong in both ca 
the reaction upon the wheel from the hammer would 
soon shake it to pieces, if not well braced. The 
water-wheel is in most cases seven or eight feet in 
diameter, seldom more than nine or less than five 
feet. The size of the water-wheel depends partly on 
the head of water, but chiefly on its quantity. If 






GERMAN STEEL. 93 

there is an abundance of water, the pressure is prin- 
cipally relied on ; where economy is to be exercised, 
the weight gives the power ; but in most cases both 
weight and pressure are used. Where steel is drawn, 
or hardware manufactured by force-hammers, the 
speed of the driving power must be absolutely in the 
command of the workman, as it is impossible to work 
thin steel to advantage with a uniform rate of speed. 
Drawing steel rods, and similar work, may be done, 
after some experience ; but the forging of scythes, 
sickles, and such light articles, cannot be done, with 
a due regard to excellence, by a uniform speed of the 
hammer. 

For the reasons we have given, a wheel for a 
steel-hammer should always have a head of five or 
six feet of water, which is led in such a manner upon 
a breast-wheel that it may be used either by weight 
or by pressure. A wheel of seven feet diameter 
should work by ten revolutions, and must be capable 
of making twenty-five. This will give, with a tap- 
ring of four feet diameter, and sixteen wipers, from 
one hundred and sixty to four hundred strokes, which 
difference is required for small hammers and light 
work. For large hammers, the extremes need not be 
so great. Each hammer should have its own inde- 
pendent speed ; for it is the varying heat and thick- 



94 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

ness of the work which renders the variation in 
speed necessary; and this differs at each hammer. 

These irregularities in speed cause, of course, a 
great loss of power, either of water or steam ; and 
in consequence of this loss, a great many attempts 
have been made to connect a series of hammers with 
one stationary power, and regulate the speed by belts 
and drums. In the New England States, these at- 
tempts, in some instances, have been successful; but 
in Europe they have generally failed. The eau.-e of 
failure is the inability to produce a sudden change of 
speed in the belt. 

The arrangement we have described ifl by no means 
the most perfect; but it is approved and simple, and 
the best adapted to show the principles involved. 
The sudden jerks given by the hammer to the shaft 
and wheel render it necessary to make both as strong 
as if of one piece. Heavy masses are well applied; 
but it is ill policy to go beyond the necessary Weight. 
The momentum of the wheel and shaft is then an 
obstacle to sudden changes of speed, which are 
always necessary. 

If a wheel of seven feet makes twenty-five revolu- 
tions, and the cam-ring is four feet, it will impart 
a speed of five feet per second to the wipers. The 
speed of the hammer-head is to be greater than that 



GERMAN STEEL. 95 

of gravitation in the first second, or sixteen feet. If 
the fulcrum is set one distance from the tail, and 
three distances to the head, the next wiper will catch 
the tail before the head is on the anvil, if there are 
but six inches stroke. The fulcrum* is to be at one 
for the tail and four to the head, which will give 
sufficient speed and recoil. 

Force-hammers of a great variety of forms are in 
use, in this country as well as in Europe ; but, of all 
the variety, there is none better adapted for forging 
steel and hardware than the tail-hammer we have 
described. 

MAKING STEEL. 

The operation of making natural steel is very 
similar to that of making charcoal blooms of pig 
iron. On melting grey pig or mottled iron in the 
charcoal forge, it frequently happens that a part of 
the iron is naturally ready for forging, while the 
other portion is at the bottom, in a liquid state. The 
portion of the charge which is soonest ready is a mix- 
ture of crude steel and fibrous iron, and may be said 
to be spring-steel. 

In all our remarks on natural or German steel, we 
wish it to be understood that we speak but with 
reference to cold-blast charcoal pig-iron. Hot-blast, 



96 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

anthracite, or coke-iron, will never make an article 
that can with propriety be called steel, or answer the 
uses of that metal. 

We have said that in melting grey pig or mottled 
iron, we frequently find a description of natural 
steel. This may be of a tolerably good quality, but 
it is never suitable for edged tools, or for any pur- 
pose where strength is required. If such lumps of 
steel are from good, strong pig-iron — that is, iron 
which makes a Strong bar-iron, and is smelted of pure 
ore, such as magnet ie and specular ore — they are of 

use for common blacksmiths' purposes, and particu- 
larly for springs and agricultural implements. Tl. 
are drawn out into square or flat bars, of one inch 
square, or less, and then fagoted and welded, by 
which the steel is greatly improved. If it should be 
hard and show no fibres after the first refining, it 
may be piled once more, when it will become still 
more uniform. 

The steel made in this way is, in reality, not steel ; 
it is simply a kind of hard wrought-iron, which is 
brittle or tenacious according to the quality of the 
pig-iron from which it is obtained. This is the most 
simple form, the first step in the approach to the 
making of steel. A hard, brittle wrought-iron, made 
directly from the ore, no matter how good that ore 



GERMAN STEEL. 97 

may be, is never m^re than a brittle, impure, cold- 
short bar iron. 

The foregoing process of making steel is the result 
of imperfect work in the forge, which never ought to 
happen. If the pig-iron is of such a quality as to be 
suitable for steel, it is better to rebuild the fire, and 
prepare it for the work of a few days, or a regular 
course of steel-making. 

When steel is to be made of Nos. 1 or 2 pig-iron, 
the common charcoal forge in which bar-iron is re- 
fined, is altered so as to adapt it to the making of 
steel. The principle which governs in the manufac- 
ture of natural steel is, the regulation of the refining 
process in such a manner as to delay the completion 
of the refining, and still expose the iron to a high 
heat. The pig is melted opposite the tuyere, instead 
of above it, as in making iron ; or, if very grey pig, 
it is melted above the blast. The principal requisite, 
however, is a hot fire, that the iron may be melted 
down as speedily as possible. 

The fluid pig-iron is in this way brought below the 
tuyere, where it is worked gently by hot tools to pre- 
vent its boiling. If the iron boils below the tuyere, 
it will not make steel, but short iron ; the Swedish 
bars are made in that way. The iron should never 
be allowed to boil ; and if it chills on the bottom, 



98 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

and is very hot, it is brought opposite to or above the 
tuyere, but so far off' as not to be touched by the 
blast. The principal difference in making iron and 
steel is, that iron is to be worked diligently, and is 
never worked too much; while in making steel, the 
work must be regulated by a practised judgment. 
Steel must be protected against the blast; still, the 
fire and iron are to be very hot, and uniformly hot. 
It is never broken up by a bar ; but the cake of iron 
retain the form it receives on melting and flowing 
into the hearth ; the blast being so directed as to 
heat it uniformly. 

The practice of making steel is somewhat different 
if the pig-iron should be No. 2, or white iron. We 
have little or no ore which will make a good white 
iron for steel. The only useful ore which we know 
of is the Missouri iron mountain ore — a particularly 

good quality of pcr-oxydi or the specular ore of 

Lake Superior, of which we know but little. Tie 
are other good ores in New Jersey, viz., the Andover 
specular ore; but this is not used at present, although 
in the last century steel was made from it. Such 
white iron — that is, No. 2 iron, or that made by a 
heavy burden in the blast-furnace — is melted entirely 
above the tuyere, in the strongest heat and a strong 
blast. By the time such iron arrives at the bottom 



GERMAN STEEL. 99 

of the hearth, it is almost converted into steel. A 
low heat and weak blast will make iron instead of 
steel. In this instance, the pig-iron is selected with 
particular reference to steel. Open or mottled No. 2 
is reserved for wrought iron ; and only the close, 
compact, crystallized, clean pigs are selected for steel. 
The pigs or plates for steel are not to be cast in 
chills, nor in damp sand ; they are cast in heavy pigs, 
either in dry sand, or, what is better, in charcoal- 
dust. If, during the melting-in of this pig-iron, some 
of it is converted into fibrous iron, it does not mat- 
ter; it may be reconverted into steel by giving a 
strong blast, and keeping such blast off the iron ; it 
will then once more dissolve and unite with the crude 
iron, or steel. 



FLUXES, 

In all cases, the addition of fluxes to the melted 
iron, such as hammer-slag or scales, cinders of former 
heats, iron-ore, and similar matter, is to be avoided. 
Though such fluxes may be good in making iron, 
they are worse than useless in manufacturing steel. 
A fluid c/'nder should always be around the cake of 
iron, or steel ; if the fire works too dry, it is better 



100 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

to throw some fine fire-clay, or fine white sand, on 
the cake, to make cinder. Anything else, no matter 
what its name may be, is injurious to the steel, and 
should be most carefully avoided. 

PIG-IRON, 

No. 3, or white iron with much carbon, of a quality 
suited to the manufacture of steel, is not made in 
this country. We have no ore for making such iron. 
White iron highly carbonised, as it is frequently 
made in blast-furnaces when the operations are dis- 
ordered, is the least useful for steel. We know of 
but the black magnetic and specular ores, in this 
country, which are of any use for the manufacture 
of natural steel. The- are to he smelted by 

charcoal and cold-blast, and the blast-furnace Bhonld 

not be overburdened, or the product will be oold-ehon 
wrought-iron, and not steel. 

The method of working Nos. 1 and 2 pig-iron dif- 
fers essentially from that pursued in working No. 3. 
The dimensions of the fire-hearth and arrangement 
of the blast are also very different ; so that Nos. 1 
and 2 cannot be worked in a hearth intended for 
No. 3. As, however, we have no No. 3 pig-iron 
which is suitable for the manufacture of steel, we 
shall confine our remarks to Nos. 1 and 2. 



GERMAN STEEL. 101 



THE MAKING 

Of steel requires great heat. For this reason, the 
fire is made more flat ; the bottom is raised, and the 
tuyere not dipped so much as in making iron. Grey 
iron admits of more dip of the blast than mottled or 
white pig. When working the latter, the wind is to 
be kept off the bottom, or the steel cakes altogether 
too fast. Grey pig requires less blast than mottled ; 
white iron should have a strong blast, and the highest 
possible degree of heat. Grey iron made from the 
same ore as the white, will make a better steel than 
the latter ; but it requires more labour and attention 
than to work white iron. 

Under all conditions, a high heat is desirable ; but 
as grey pig works rather slowly, the heat is dimi- 
nished ; this often arises from the quality of the pro- 
duct. The heat and blast should be uniform, as well 
during the melting, as after the metal has caked in 
the bottom. The tuyere or nozzles are sometimes 
shifted; but this is an imperfect way of mending 
matters, and the necessity for it should be avoided. 
Two nozzles, and a broad half-round or oval tuyere, 
will be found of great advantage. A round tuyere, 
with one round nozzle, is not adapted to the purpose, 



102 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

and should not be admitted into a forge for the ma- 
nufacture of steel. 

The more the iron is inclined to give up its carbon, 
which is always the case with the best and pur 
kinds of iron, the more should the work be hurried, 
and the higher should be the heat. The bottom of 
the fire is to be clean and dry, every drop of cinder 
tapped off, and every particle of BCOlia removed, be- 
fore the iron is melted down. This is a Standing 
rule, which must be rigorously adhered to in all 
cases; but more particularly with white and good pig 
than with grey or bad iron. 

Pig-iron which is grey, or which works too slowly, 
may be improved by melting it down, and gradually 
introducing small quantities of good, pure BCrap-iron, 
cut up finely, and freed from rust or Bcales. Th 
scraps arc to be of old iron, or old steel ; fresh scraps 
are not of much use. The scraps dissolve in the 
fluid iron, and are put into it quite hot, almost at a 
welding heat, to prevent the cooling of the ma — . 
Impure or rusty scrap-iron, and cold water, are to bo 
avoided ; they make the iron boil, and give it a 
fibrous quality. By avoiding what we have dee 
nated, the heat may be increased without any fear 
that the iron will boil; it will assume a pasty, thick 
appearance, and soon become strong enough to bo 



GERMAN STEEL. 10 



Q 



shingled. Reducing the blast, diminishing the heat, 
or turning the blast upon the melted iron to accele- 
rate the process, are bad practices ; they either make 
cold-short and brittle or fibrous iron. 



FORM AND DIMENSIONS OF HEARTH. 

The form and dimensions of an approved hearth 
for converting grey pig-iron into steel are as follows 
(we refer to fig. 14) : The square fire-hearth is thirty- 
four or thirty-six inches wide from the tuyere to the 
opposite side. The cast-iron plate at the tuyere is at an 
inclination of about 10° or 12° to the hearth, which 
is about one and a half inch on twelve inches high. 
The opposite plate is as much inclined out of the 
hearth, to permit a more easy access to the loup of 
steel. The timp-plate, or that plate nearest the work- 
man, which is the front part of the drawing, is vertical, 
but is a few inches higher than the other three plates. 
Its opposite plate is thirty inches distant. In the 
timp-plate is a round hole of two or three inches dia- 
meter, for letting out cinder and Fig. 21. 
scoria. A copper tuyere, very much 
tapered, as represented in fig. 21, is 
inclined about 12° into the fire, and 
projects about four inches into the 




104 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

hearth ; at its narrowest end, it is one and a half by 
half an inch wide. The distance of the tuyere from 
the timp-plate is twenty inches, and from the back 
plate ten inches. The cast-iron plates around the 
fire are from one and a half to two and a half inc* 
thick ; and as they are always covered with charcoal 
dust, or braize, there is not much danger of their 
burning out. The height of the tuyere above the 
bottom is five inches — never more than six. The 

height above the tuyere id variable; it may be four 
or five inches, fur very hard COal: fine coal, or Boft 
coal, make nine or ten inches necessary, at least at 
the timp and opposite the tuyere. The bottom, one 
of the most important portions of the fire, is a sand- 
stone slab of two or three inches thick; it rests upon 
an iron base, but better upon Band. This bottom is 
better if in one piece, but may answer if of several 
pieces. On the quality of these stones the success 
of the operation mainly depends. Coarse sandstones, 
in which much iron, lime and magnesia are found, 
are not good ; they will make iron, but no steel. 
Stones in which there is lime are also unsuitable. A 
fine-grained, slaty sandstone, in which there is much 
clay, and which does not effervesce with acids, is the 
best for the purpose. Fire-brick are not good ; they 
do not last, and cause great waste in iron. If the 



GERMAN STEEL. 105 

stones for the bottom are of the right sort, the work 
progresses faster, and the steel is better. Good 
stones will last eight or twelve heats ; bad ones often 
but one or two. If the stones are gently dried and 
heated before they are put in the hearth, they last 
much longer ; two or four weeks should be allowed 
for drying. The advantage of having the bottom in 
one piece consists in the fact that it will last longer, 
and that the work-bars are not retarded in passing 
over the crevices, as in a hearth composed of several 
pieces. The crevices between the stones, where a 
single slab of sufficient size cannot be obtained, are 
.filled w T ith fire-clay, or fire-proof sand ; clay is pre- 
ferable to sand. 



MANIPULATION. 

A fire-hearth prepared in the above manner is 
covered on the inside with a layer of clean charcoal 
dust, which is well-rammed in, partly to protect the 
iron sides, and partly to have a non-conductor of heat 
between the melted or hot steel, and the cast-iron 
plates. The bottom stone is left bare, or only co- 
vered with some fine charcoal. The hearth is then 
filled with charcoal, and the fire gently urged by the 
blast. Upon the dust of the far-off plate, some 



106 MANUFACTURE OF 6TEEL. 

pieces of steel from the last heat may be laid, partly 
to secure the dust, and partly to re-heat these pieces 
for subsequent drawing. 

When the fire is well burnt through, and every 
part of it warm, the pig-iron, about one hundred and 
fifty pounds, is laid opposite the tuyere, upon the 
charcoal, so that it may be uniformly heated, without 
melting. At this stage of the operation, a little 
hammer-slag, or fine cinder, is strewn over the fire, 
so as to make a slight film or covering of cinder over 
the bottom, by which the bottom fa protected, and 
the heat augmented. 

During the heating of the pig-iron, the pieces of 
steel from the last heat are brought above the tuyere, 
and heated for shingling and drawing. In the mean- 
time, a piece of pig-iron, weighing about twenty 
pounds, fa placed in such a position opposite the 
tuyere, but out of the blast, as to cause it to melt 
rapidly. The fire is constantly fed with fresh coal. 
Water on the coal is to be avoided. At this stage 
of the process, all the blast is given which the bel- 
lows will make ; for the fire cannot be too hot ; the 
iron must become perfectly liquid before it reaches 
the bottom. If the iron is grey, and the trial by 
crowbar shows it to be thin, the blast may be slack- 
ened ; but if it is not quite grey, and there should 






GERMAN STEEL. 107 

be any doubt as to its fusibility, the blast may be 
urged on. 

The iron in this condition is stirred by means 
of a small crowbar ; but as soon as it assumes a thick, 
paste-like appearance, a second piece of cast-iron, of 
say thirty pounds in weight, should be rapidly melted 
in ; this will make the iron in the bottom quite fluid 
again, even if it has become chilled or stiff. The 
working in the bottom is now continued until the 
iron becomes pasty, or stiff; and if it works too 
slowly, some fine iron scraps, which have been pre- 
viously heated above the tuyere, may be added. The 
cinder in the bottom, if there should be any, is to be 
let out each time the mass feels stiff, and is ready for 
another melting ; there is no necessity for cinder in 
the bottom at this period of the process. 

Care should be taken that the metal in the bottom 
does not harden, and assume the appearance of 
wrought-iron, as in such case the stones are injured, 
and it is absolutely impossible to make steel. Should 
this hardening take place, the fire must be strenu- 
ously urged by the blast, and another portion of pig- 
iron, of thirty or fifty pounds in weight, melted down. 
Each addition of pig-iron is intended and expected 
to make the whole mass in the bottom liquid again ; 

if it does not, there is something wrong. 
10 






108 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

Grey pig-iron, after having melted and reached the 
bottom, is inclined to boil upon the slightest stirring. 
If it contains much carbon, there is no harm done by 
a little boiling; but if the crude iron is mottled, it 
is advisable to avoid the ebullition of the fluid mass. 
Boiling may be prevented or stopped by an increi 
of heat and a suspension of work, and also by keep- 
ing the bottom free from Blag, or cinder. Iron 
which is inclined to boil should be melted by day- 
light, and the bottom kept dear of cinder. Duri 
the melting, the blast must be kept off its Burfi 
Some stirring in the hot mass ifl always necessary, in 
order to bring it to a uniform quality. The pig-iron 
is melted in successive portions, until the whole of it 
is down. The last or two last melts do not generally 
restore the whole of the steel cake in the bottom of 
the hearth to a fluid state; they arc apt to cut into 
the centre, and spread over the surface of it. This 
should be avoided by all means ; for the raw iron will 
penetrate between the bottom and the mass of steel, 
forming new cast-iron in the lower part, and wrought- 
iron of the upper part of the loup. The rule to be 
strictly adhered to in working the fire is, to melt the 
crude iron dow T n in small portions, and let the next 
melt always cover the cake ; otherwise the blast will 
convert into wrought-iron those portions which are 



GERMAN STEEL. 109 

uncovered. The. last melts of pig-iron are performed 
as quickly as possible, under the influence of a strong 
blast ; for if the steel cake is exposed too long to the 
blast, most of it will be converted into iron. It de- 
pends very much on the dexterity of the workman 
whether, of the same materials, he makes good steel, 
inferior steel, or iron. Low heat and slow work 
invariably make fibrous or hard cold-short iron ; too 
great heat and too much blast generally make a very 
hard, but brittle steel. All water, cold or wet bars, 
damp coal, and slag to accelerate the process, are to 
be avoided if a good steel is desired. 

The termination of the process is shown when the 
surface of the cake begins to give indications of con 
version. The surface is then scraped off the cake 
with a crowbar, and held before the tuyere. If ii 
resists a high welding heat, it is time to stop the 
blast. 

Hot steel is always of a darker colour than fibrous 
iron in the same heat ; and an experienced workman 
can perceive, by this difference, when the cake is 
ready. If the scale scraped off the cake melts be- 
fore the hot fire at the tuyere, it is evident that the 
mass is not yet done ; the scale must neither melt, 
burn, nor turn white, like iron. The cake, when well 
done, feels slippery to the touch of a bar ; if it feels 



110 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

soft, it is not yet ready; and if it feels rough, it is 
time to stop the blast, as that roughness is an indica- 
tion that the mass is about to be converted into iron. 
After stopping tho blast, coal and coal-dust are re- 
moved to the hearth by a scraper, the steel cake 
cleared of cinder and dust, and then permitted to 
remain for a while to cool, before it is taken out. 
"When red-hot yet, or so far cooled as to be strong 
enough to be lifted without breaking, a sharp flat 
crowbar is driven through the tap-hole in the timp- 
plate, and the eake is lifted off the bottom. Should 
it adhere to the bottom, or to the tuycrc-pl 
will sometimes happen, the crowbar is driven in by 
the force of a sledge-hammer. 



THE CAKE 

Is almost of a round form : it is brought to the 
tilt, and cut into six or eight segments, which 
are of course in the form of a triangle. It is natural 
to expect that the circumference of the cake will be 
more of the nature of iron than of steel, and the in- 
ternal part inclines more to cast-iron than to either 
steel or fibrous iron. The triangles, whose base is 
formed by the periphery of the cake, and which are 
drawn out into square or flat bars while the melting 



GERMAN STEEL. Ill 

of crude iron is going on, make bars whose ends are 
inclined, the one to wrought-iron, and the other to 
cast-iron, while the middle portion is the best part 
of the steel. These bars are generally forged into a 
square form, if uniformly hard steel is required ; if 
spring-steel is the object, flat bars may be preferable. 
As soon as the bars are drawn, they are thrown into 
cold water, to be chilled and afterwards broken. 
This hardening of the crude steel is by some per- 
sons thought necessary for the purpose of observing 
the fracture, and classifying the steel accordingly. 
But it is not strictly necessary, and is certainly very 
injurious to the steel, particularly if it should be de- 
ficient in carbon. A far better method is, to cut or 
shear the bar of crude steel into three lengths, and 
call these Nos. 1, 2 and 3 steel. A good forgeman 
knows perfectly well, while, he is drawing the bars, 
whether he has fibrous iron, cold-short iron, or steel. 
The hammer-man's judgment is sufficient, and the 
danger of hardening the bars may and should be 
avoided. 

When the cake is permitted to get too hard, before 
another portion of pig-iron is melted in, by scraps or 
by blast, no steel can be expected ; the cake will con- 
sist principally of iron. If the cake should be too 
soft or cold when a fresh melt come-down, cold-short 



112 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

iron or bad steel is the result. If the process is not 
conducted with the requisite experience, it may hap- 
pen that the steel cake will be crude at the seam, 
and fibrous in the centre. 



EXPENSE OF THE PROCESS. 

The manufacture of steel in this way is not a very 
cheap operation. To make a ton, from good pig- 
iron, requires at least four hundred bushels of char- 
coal ; if the iron should be of an inferior quality, a 
still greater consumption of coal is necessary. Soft 
charcoal is preferable to hard coal in this, a- in every 
other part of the process of manufacturing steel. 
The loss on iron is seldom less than thirty or thirty- 
three per cent. ; the very best pig-iron never, under 
any circumstances, yields more than seventy-five per 
cent, of crude steel. 

One fire, supplied with two hands, may refine and 
draw, in the course of a week, from a ton to a ton 
and a half of steel. The yield of a fire may be aug- 
mented by using wrought-iron scraps freely ; two, or 
even three tons per week, may be thus produced ; 
but this requires good pig-iron, good scraps, and good 
workmen. Scraps of puddled iron, no matter of 



GERMAN STEEL. 113 

what kind, are useless ; they should be of the very 
best and purest charcoal iron, large quantities of 
which may be had at the charcoal forges, or at the 
gun factories. 



THE GERMAN METHOD 

Of making steel is to use cast-iron derived from 
the smelting of carbonate of iron, or sparry ore. We 
cannot make steel in that way, and are compelled to 
use grey or mottled iron for the purpose. The pro- 
cess in use in Sweden and Northern Germany was 
formerly practised in this country. The art among 
the Germans is highly cultivated, and is practised in 
a variety of forms, with a view to vary the quality 
and quantity. The processes are also, of course, 
modified by the peculiarities of the material and the 
workmen. On account of their many advantages, 
the Germans are enabled to make cheaper natural 
steel than we can. It is not of much use to describe 
their manipulation, for we can neither imitate nor 
improve upon it ; and to describe it merely for the 
purpose of showing the principle, would be a waste 
of time. 

The heavy expenses attending the manufacture of 



114 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

steel have given rise to numerous attempts at im- 
provement ; but, thus far, very little has been accom- 
plished. The necessity of using a stone bottom, and 
the further necessity of cooling the fire almost every 
day to put in a new bottom, are great obstacles in 
the way of cheapness ; and frequent schemes have 
been devised to avoid them, but in vain. In those 
countries where iron or coal bottoms are used, as in 
Styria and Carinthia, the work is carried on only in 
the day-time. This certainly involves a great ex- 
pense in coal and labour, but it seems to be necessary 
and unavoidable. If the manufacture of natural 
steel could be carried on without intermission, by day 
and night, as is the operation of making iron, it cer- 
tainly would not cost any more to manufacture the 
former than the latter metal — perhaps even less. 
To the accomplishment of this end, however, there 
seem to be at present insuperable obstacles : and we 
must trust to time and further experience to simplify 
and cheapen the process. 



GERMAN STEEL. 115 



MAKING STEEL IN A PUDDLING FURNACE. 

Some years ago we noticed a process of making 
steel in a puddling furnace ; it was made of very good 
steel-iron, puddled by dry wood. The product looked 
like steel ; but it was no more steel than strong cold- 
short iron ever will be. In the following pages we 
shall endeavour to show that any use of the puddling 
furnace in making steel is wrong in the principle ; 
good steel can never be made in that way, or by any 
such means. 



REFINING OF STEEL. 

Natural steel obtained in the way described is not 
marketable, or ready for use. Before it is exposed 
to sale, it is refined or tilted ; the bars, either flat or 
square, as they come from the forge, are sent to the 
tilt. This consists of a force-hammer, or hammers, 
of from one hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds 
in weight, and a series of forge-fires. A forge-fire 
is similar to a common blacksmith's forge, and the 
refining is done by bituminous or mineral coal. It 
is also sometimes done by charcoal ; but mineral coal 
is preferred. 



116 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

The steel to be refined is broken into convenient 
lengths of twelve or fifteen inches, and piled or 
fagoted so as to make a fagot of fifty pounds. The 
bottom and top of the pile are to be in one length ; 
the interior may be composed of short pieces. A 
fagot is taken in a pair of strong basket-tongs, and 
heated in a fire to redness ; if it is found to be open, 
the red-hot pile is gently pressed together by a hand- 
hammer. When close, it is taken to another fire, 
where it receives the welding heat. Before and dur- 
ing its exposure to the welding heat, the pile is 
sprinkled over with burnt and finely-ground clay, 
partly to protect it against the blast, and partly to 
remove the dry film of scales, which are generally 
more refractory on steel than on iron. When suffi- 
ciently heated at one end, the fagot is brought to the 
hammer, and that end is welded. The tongs are now 
fastened to the welded end, which is generally drawn 
down to one and a quarter or one and a half inch 
square, and the other end of the fagot brought into 
the fire, welded, and drawn. 

If the steel is to be refined again, the bar is cut 
into two or more pieces, and again welded and drawn 
out. This process is repeated, or may be repeated, 
four or five times in succession ; and the steel is then 
called two, three, or five times refined steel. 



GERMAN STEEL. 117 



THE REFINING FIRES 

Are not different from a common smith's forge, 
except that they are larger and lower. Where char- 
coal is used, and of course where anthracite is to be 
used, the fire is provided with a long arch of fire- 
brick, of about two feet span, and one foot high 
above the tuyere. Bituminous coal, which contains 
so much bitumen as to cake, forms an arch over the 
fire by itself, and a brick arch is therefore unneces- 
sary. No injury to the steel need be apprehended 
from the use of any of the varieties of fuel we have 
named ; still, it is advisable to drive off the bitumen 
of the mineral coal before any steel is brought into 
contact with it. These fires are frequently provided 
with two or three tuyeres in a horizontal line, to 
make a continuous fire for long fagots. 

The refiner, or tilter, can accomplish a great deal 
in making the steel uniform ; but he cannot be ex- 
pected to improve a defective quality of material. 
By making the bars small and flat, and assorting 
them well, a superior article may be made of good 
raw steel. A great deal depends upon piling the 
bars and forming the fagot. The labourer who per- 
forms that work should understand the nature of the 



118 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

steel by its fracture, and pile accordingly. Hard 
steel should be piled next to that which is soft, and 
inferior steel between that which is of a better qua- 
lity. Notwithstanding all the attention we give it, 
it is impossible to make a bar uniform in itself, and 
uniform with another. We not unfrequently find 
spring-steel, shear-steel, mill-steel, mint-steel, and 
other varieties, in the same bar. The bars are there- 
fore all thrown in cold water, hardened and broken, 
and, according to the fracture, assorted for market, 
where it is known under different brands, or signs, 
wdiich are burned upon the kegs in which it is trans- 
ported. 

The steel made in this way is certainly far from 
being perfect ; but still, for the manufacture of some 
articles, it is admirably suited, and is even superior, 
for such purposes, to the best cast-steel. For 
instance, swords are made of it which cannot be 
imitated by a prime article of cast or shear-steel. 
For almost all other manufactures, however, this 
natural steel is inferior to good shear or cast-steel, 
on account of its irregularity. This irregularity has 
given rise to many attempts at improvement, and 
the steel has been re-melted, in the hope of convert- 
ing it into cast-steel ; but it is of so refractory a 
nature, that the best crucible will not melt it, at 



GERMAN STEEL. 119 

least not to advantage. An attempt has also been 
made to use this natural steel, instead of iron, for 
cementing in the converting furnace ; but the expe- 
riment was not fully successful — the steel was found 
to be inferior, for that purpose, to good soft iron. 

11 



120 MANUFACTURE OF 8TEEL. 



CHAPTER IV. 

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH METHOD OF MAKING STEEL. 
BLISTERED STEEL. 

The amount of steel annually manufactured in 
England is twenty-five thousand tons ; one-half of 
the iron consumed in this manufacture is imported 
from Sweden and other parts of the continent of 
Europe, while the remainder is obtained at their own 
charcoal forges. The best steel is made of Swedish 
Danemora iron ; but not more than twelve or fifteen 
hundred tons of this iron are imported, as its price 
ranges above one hundred and eighty dollars per ton. 
The remainder of the foreign iron used is common 
Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, German and Madras 
iron. It is generally in the form of hoops, or bars, 
of a half to five-eighths of an inch thick, and from 
two to four inches wide. We shall now proceed to 
describe the making of steel in Sheffield. 



BLISTERED STEEL. 



121 



The first operation in this branch of the manufac- 
ture is to range the iron bars in the " converting fur- 
nace.' ' In fig. 22 is a section vertically through the 
chimney, representing the cementation boxes, fire- 
grate, and the arch over the boxes. Fig. 23 is a 

Fig. 22. 





horizontal section of the boxes and flues. In each, 
the same references show the same objects. The 
whole of the converting furnace has the appearance 
of a glasshouse. The grate, A, divides the interior 
of the furnace into two equal parts, each containing 
a cementation box. There are some furnaces which 



122 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

have but one box ; but they are not found so advan- 
tageous as double furnaces, owing to their greater con- 
sumption of fuel. The fire-grate, A, is over the 
whole length of the furnace ; but its breadth varies 
according to the fuel used — inferior fuel requiring a 
greater breadth than that of a better quality. The 
object here is not so much the intensity as the bulk 
of the heat ; and it is accomplished by the slow con- 
sumption of a heavy body of fuel. A grate of two 
feet in w T idth for bituminous, and three for anthracite 
coal, may be considered as sufficient. The fire passes 
entirely around the cement-boxes, BB, and finally 
escapes at C, where a succession of draft-holes is 
left in the arch. These draft-holes are so arranged 
as to admit of being either partially or entirely shut. 
In case the heat is stronger on one end than at the 
other, it is to be regulated by pening or closing 
these flues. If the heat should be found too great 
towards the close of the operation, it may of course 
be promptly regulated in the same manner. The 
flues between the boxes are six by eighteen, and the 
others six by eight inches. The firing is done at 
both small ends of the furnace ; for the grate is 
long, and cannot be conveniently reached from one 
side. At one of the smaller ends of the furnace are 
two small orifices, DD, for drawing out the proof- 



BLISTERED STEEL. 123 

bars. On the same side with the proof or tap-holes, 
which serve also as charging-doors, is the door F, 
through which the workman enters in filling and 
emptying the cementation-boxes. In many furnaces 
there are, besides the above apertures, two doors for 
the charging and discharging of the steel ; these are 
above the troughs. 

The external dimensions of the conversion furnace 
are fifteen or sixteen feet in width, by twenty-four 
feet long ; and the conical chimney is from forty to 
fifty feet high. The exterior or rough wall is built 
of common brick, or stone ; the interior, of fire-brick. 
In case the walls cannot be supported by heavy ma- 
sonry on the outside, the furnaces are to be kept 
together by wrought-iron binders. The first plan is, 
however, the best of the two. The fire-brick arch, 
or top of the interior of the furnace, is as flat as 
possible — just high enough to admit the steel-maker. 
Heavy walls and brick-work are of advantage in the 
converting operation. 



124 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



THE TWO CHESTS, 

Or cementing-boxes, are in most cases twenty feet 
long each, though sometimes they are but ten or fif- 
teen feet in length. They are occasionally three feet 
high, and of the same width ; but this is a disadvan- 
tage, as it requires an unusually attentive and skilful 
workman to manage such large chests. The lower 
and smaller they arc, the easier is the work, and the 
more uniform is the quality of the steel. On the 
other hand, there is a proportionately greater con- 
sumption of coal in small than in large boJ 

The boxes are made of sandstone slabs, the joints 
of which rest upon, and are covered by, the tongues 
which form the flues. These slabs are of tabular 
sandstone, which naturally exfoliates or splits into 
thicknesses of one or two inches — the proper size 
for the slabs. These should be in one way as high 
as the intended height of the box, or as wide as the 
bottom ; the other dimension is less definite, and may 
be arranged so as to have the joints properly covered. 
The tongues which form the flues are small, and take 
as little off the heating surface as possible, merely 
sufficient to secure the permanency of the box. A 
new box is heated very gently for the first few days, 



BLISTERED STEEL. 125 

so as to produce the gradual expulsion of the water 
of the stones ; the heat should not be higher than 
the boiling-heat of water. The slabs are cemented 
together by fire-clay; in fact, the joints of the whole 
interior are so united. Small boxes are often set 
without heads ; but it is preferable to have flues on 
both ends, as well as along the sides. 

CHARGING OF THE BOXES. 

The boxes are charged with iron in the following 
manner : On the bottom of each trough is placed a 
layer of coarsely-powdered charcoal, about two inches 
thick. Upon this layer of charcoal, or cement, a 
layer of iron bars is laid edgwise, leaving a space of 
an inch at each side, and also between each bar a 
space equal to the thickness of the bar. The bars 
are to be within a couple of inches of the length of 
the box ; but in case they are too short, small pieces 
may be used to make them of the requisite length. 
Above the first layer of iron, a layer of cement is 
spread, of half or three-quarters of an inch thick, 
and upon this another layer of bars with spaces, as 
in the first layer. The spaces between the bars are 
closely filled-in with charcoal powder, or cement ; 
care must be exercised to have every crevice well 



126 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

filled with cement. The bars are never allowed to 
touch each other or the trough. The boxes are filled 
to within six inches of the top, and this space is filled 
with the refuse cement of former operations. Finally, 
a layer of fine sand or mud is spread over this last 
cement. The material used for this purpose in Shef- 
field consists of the sand worn off of grindstones, 
which is a mixture of particles of iron, fine quartz, 
and a little clay or lime. This is called in Sheffield 
" wheelswarf," and makes a very close and compact 
cement, almost impervious to water and air. 



THE CEMENT 

Consists of ground charcoal, made from hard wood, 
sometimes mixed with soot, or of soot only. This 
charcoal powder is intimately mixed with one-eighth 
or one-tenth of its weight of wood-ashes, and a little 
common salt. Good steel is made without ashes or 
salt, by using simply charcoal powder ; but the gene- 
ral practice is to use a cement of the kind above 
described. 



BLISTERED STEEL. 127 



WORKING OF A CONVERTING FURNACE, 

When the boxes are well packed and covered, fire 
is kindled, and very gradually raised. For the first 
twenty-four hours the heat is merely sufficient to ex- 
pel the moisture in the boxes, cement, and cover. A 
rapid heat will injure the stone slabs or bricks of 
which the chests are made. The fire is gradually 
increased so as to raise the heat a little every day ; 
and at the end of six days, if it is designed to make 
spring-steel, the bars are ready to be drawn. Shear- 
steel requires eight days, and cast-steel from ten to 
twelve days, to be sufficiently cemented, or carbon- 
ized. Two days, and often a much longer time, are 
required to cool the furnace ; after which the work- 
men enter it and discharge the steel bars. Twelve 
tons of steel are generally made in a double furnace. 
In a single furnace, or where there is but one chest, 
only six or eight tons are made at a time. For 
the purpose of enabling the workmen to charge and 
discharge the chests, iron plates are laid over the 
fire-brick arches, on which they stand. 



128 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



THE DEGREE OF CEMENTATIOH 

Is a nice point to determine, and cannot be de- 
cided by the length of time for which the iron has 
been exposed to the cementing process ; practice 
must be had, and is always depended upon in well- 
regulated establishments. Experience teaches us 
that steel for coach-springs requires a low degree 
of conversion; after this comes blistered Steel for 
common use; then, sluar-strc], steel for cutlery, and 
steel for files. Cast-steel requires a higher de<i; 
of conversion than any other. Some steel, such as 
cast-steel for bits, is frequently returned to the box 
two or three times, and is then called twice or 
thrice-converted steel. The point whefe to stop 
cementation is decided by the steel-maker in draw- 
ing and trying the trial-rod, or rods. The trial- 
rods are somewhat longer than the others ; they 
reach at one end through the thickness of the slabs 
of which the chest is formed, and may be drawn out 
from between the other bars by a pair of tongs. 
The bar itself may be but three or four feet long. 
The trial-holes, marked in the cuts D D, are called 
" tap-holes ;" they are but a few inches wide, and are 
closed around the trial-rods by clay or wheelswharf ; 



BLISTERED STEEL. 129 

they are almost in the centre of the chest. An ex- 
perienced steel-maker uses but one trial-rod, though 
some persons think it necessary to have two or three 
bars. If a trial-rod has been once drawn, it cannot 
be returned to the box ; it is then broken, and from 
its appearance on fracture the quality of the steel is 
adjudged. The fire is cautiously kept so low, that 
the highly converted steel at the bottom of the box 
does not melt. If it happens that it does melt in the 
box, it is generally converted into cast-iron, and is 
useless for steel. The success of this converting 
operation depends, therefore, in a great measure, 
indeed almost entirely, on the knowledge and saga- 
city of the steel-maker. On his care and judgment 
the avoidance of losses mainly depends. Too much 
stress cannot be laid upon this point. 



GAIN IN WEIGHT. 

The bars in the process of conversion gain about a 
half to three-fourths of one per cent, in weight. They 
are entirely covered with blisters, whence the name 
"blistered steel" is derived. The steel is very irre- 
gular in the different layers of the box, as also in 
each bar. The fracture of a bar is very crystalline, 



130 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

its colour a bright silvery white, and the tables of 
the crystals are lustrous like brilliants. The central 
crystals are always smaller than those near the sur- 
face of the bar. 



TILTING. 

Blistered steel is hardly fit for any purpose, no 
matter how simple or coarse the article made of it 
may be. Its blisters and fissures make it unfit for 
the manufacture of tools, until it is re-heated and 
tilted. The first operation of this kind of refining 
makes common steel; the second makes -steel, 

and steel for cutlery. Very little Bteel IS exposed to 
three welding-heats, as each heat adds to its tenacity 
and strength, but, if carried too far, will reduce 
some of it to iron. 

THE REFINING FIRES 

Are like a blacksmith's forge-hearth ; the fire is, 
however, of a larger size. Soft or bituminous coal 
is used for welding the bundles of steel. This coal 
is converted into a coke, and forms an arch over the 
fire, giving the appearance of a bakeoven. Neither 
charcoal nor anthracite has this effect. 



BLISTERED STEEL. 131 

The forge-fires are supplied with air by cylinder 
blast-machines, or by common bellows, placed above 
the head, and worked by a crank which is driven 
either by w T ater or steam-power. The air is conveyed 
in copper or tin pipes to the tuyere. The blistered 
steel is cut or broken into lengths of twelve or eigh- 
teen inches, and four of such lengths are piled along 
with a fifth of double length. This longer bar is 
placed in the middle, between the others, and forms 
the handle to the pile. This pile, or fagot, is held 
together by being bound with a small steel rod. It 
is carried to the fire, and a good welding heat given 
to it. While in the fire, it is occasionally sprinkled 
with sand, to form a protecting slag against the im- 
purities of the coal. The fagot, when of a cherry- 
red heat, is carried from the fire to the tilt, and 
notched down — that is, hammered down in a rough 
manner — so as to unite the bars together, and close 
up every internal flaw and fissure. 

In the first heat, the fagot is merely welded in a 

rough manner ; after which the bindings are knocked 

off, and the pile is again re-heated. In the second 

heat, the welded bars are drawn out into a uniform 

rod of the thickness required, which is generally an 

inch or an inch and a half square, and twice or three 

times the length of the original fagot. The bars of 
12 



132 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

the first heat, which are common steel, are piled 
again to form shear-steel. Five or six of such bars 
are piled and held together by a slender band of steel, 
as before, when they are once more exposed to a 
welding heat in the first forge-fire, and welded imper- 
fectly, or soaked, to cement the bars together. This 
fagot, which also is supplied with a long bar for a 
handle, is then carried to a larger fire, in which it 
receives a thorough welding heat, and is then tilted 
at the heaviest hammer of the establishment, called 
the " shear-hammer." In this heat a bar of two or 
two and a half inches square ifl drawn out; and if 
steel of more than two heats, or " double shear," is 
required, it is cut in two, doubled, welded together, 
and drawn out again. 

Blistered steel, repeatedly re-heated and drawn 
out, assumes a very uniform, fine grain ; it loses all 
its flaws, fissures and blisters, and is by far more 
tenacious than any other steel ; it is also less affected 
by heat than cast-steel. When rendered compact by 
welding and hammering, this steel is also susceptible 
of a very fine polish, in which respect it is but little 
inferior to cast-steel. It is therefore a superior steel 
for cutlery, and unites a fine, close texture, with great 
tenacity. 

Shear-steel has not derived its name from being 



BLISTERED STEEL. 133 

particularly useful in making scissors. In days gone 
by, there were a large kind of shears in use for dress- 
ing woollen cloth ; they were formed like those in 
use for shearing sheep, being four or five feet long, 
with blades of twelve or eighteen inches in length, by 
eight to twelve inches wide. The refined blistered 
steel was particularly adapted to make the edge and 
spring of these shears. 

THE TILTS, 

Or hammers, are very much the same as those de- 
scribed in the last chapter for tilting natural steel. 
The heaviest hammer — the shear-hammer — varies 
in weight from two hundred to four hundred pounds. 
In Sheffield, the principal and cheapest mart for the 
manufacture of steel, the hammers are driven by a 
small water-wheel, upon whose prolonged axis are 
one or more iron rings, which contain the wipers, or 
cams. In the periphery of the cam-ring, or wiper 
wheel, there are from twelve to eighteen cams, which 
strike the tail of the hammer in rapid succession, by 
which the hammer-head is raised and suffered to fall 
on the steel. To increase the effect of the hammer, 
a spring is placed under its tail, so as to work the 
hammer partly by weight, and partly by recoil. 



134 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

Large tilts make two hundred, smaller ones four hun- 
dred, strokes per minute. The majority of the ham- 
mer frames in Sheffield are of wood, which in fact is 
the most suitable material for tilts. In some estab- 
lishments, more than one hammer is on one wheel- 
shaft. The anvils are placed upon a stone founda- 
tion, and these stones upon a grate of wood-piles. 
The surface of the anvils is almost level with the 
floor of the tilt-house, and the workman sits down in i 
fosse, or pit, with his face towards the hammer. The 
smaller rods arc tilted Bitting, the larger ones stand- 
ing. At the lighter tilts, the hammer-man or till 
sits on a swinging seat, suspended from the roof of 
the building. While thus suspended, he takes one 
end of the bundle of rods between his legs, and by 
the motion of his body gives to the rods a rapid back- 
ward and forward motion under the hammer. Each 
tilter has two boys in attendance, to furnish him 
with hot rods, and take away those which are suffi- 
ciently hammered. The rods are heated to a higher 
or lower degree, but, after the welding is done, not 
higher than a cherry-red. Small rods of good steel, 
which very soon cool after being brought upon the 
anvil, speedily become red again under the rapid 
blows of the hammer. 

Tilting is a very important process in the manu- 






BLISTERED STEEL. 



135 



facture of steel ; and none but very skilful and in- 
dustrious men will make good hands at the tilt. In 
fig. 24, as will be seen at a glance, a tilt-house is 



Fig. 24. 




represented. The faces of the hammer-head, as well 
as the anvil, are of the best cast-steel, well hardened 
and polished. Each hammer has a blast-pipe con- 
ducted to it, which ends in a nozzle, from which a 
stream of air is constantly blowing upon the anvil, to 
keep it free from dust and scales. This cleanliness 
is necessary to impart a good polish to the steel bars. 



CAST-STEEL 

Is made by melting blistered steel in crucibles. 
The converted steel is broken into convenient pieces 
for charging it in the narrowest space possible. A 
portion of carbon is always dissipated in this process ; 
therefore; the most highly carbonized bars of the b]is- 



136 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

tered steel are selected to be transformed into cast- 
steel. The highly converted steel is known by its 
larger crystals and brighter lustre, in a newly-made 
fracture, than in the other bars. These broken 
pieces of blistered steel are charged in crucibles made 
of the best Stourbridge fire-clay. 



THE MAKING OF CRUCIBLES, 

Or melting-pots, is an important branch in this 
department of the art. They are from eighteen to 
twenty inches high, and of a sugar-loaf shape. The 
clay is, as we have said, of the best Stourbridge, 
worked to a high degree of uniformity and smooth- 
ness. To give it this uniformity, the clay is first 
moistened with water, and well puddled; it is then 
spread on a smooth floor underneath the casting- 
house, and worked by bare feet ; this requires the 
uninterrupted work of two men for six hours. In 
some establishments, the clay is mixed with finely- 
pulverized coke, or finely-ground cement of old cru- 
cibles, or a portion of black lead ; and sometimes it 
is mixed with the whole of these ingredients. Up 
to the present time, every attempt has failed to sub- 
stitute machinery for manual labour in mjxing the 
clay ; it would seem that there is an efficacy in the 



BLISTERED STEEL 



137 




human hand, or, in this cass, in the foot, which no 
machinery has been found or can be expected to 
possess. 

The crucibles are moulded 
in a cast-iron mould, as in 
fig. 25. A is a solid block 
of wood, in which the outer 
part of the iron mould, B, 
closely fits, but still so loose 
as to be easily lifted out of 
its place. This iron mould 
is well bored out on the turn- 
ing lathe, and polished. The 
core of the mould, C, is also of cast-iron, well turned, 
It has two guide-pins, one above and one below. In 
the space between the core of the mould and the 
case, a lump of clay is laid on the bottom, just suffi- 
cient to fill the space and make a crucible. When 
the proper size of a lump has been found by experi- 
ment, it is weighed, and its weight made the standard 
for future operations, thus securing uniformity in the 
crucibles. A dried and baked Sheffield crucible 
weighs from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and will 
contain forty pounds of broken steel. 

Crucible-making is the most tedious and expensive 
branch in the manufacture of cast-steel. The best 



138 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

Sheffield crucibles do not last longer than three heats, 
or one day. 

The core, C, is pressed down upon the lumps of 
clay in the mould, by which they are forced upwards 
and fill the upper part of the mould. In this way, 
the lower portion of the crucible receives the nee 
sary degree of compactness. The bole in the bottom 
of the crucible, caused by the guide-pin, ifi Btopped 
up with clay before the vessel is taken out of 
mould. When the core is removed, and the bott 

hole stopped, the mould, B, 18 lifted OUt of the wooll- 
en block, and reversed upon B board. If the day is 
of the right texture and well worked, the withdrawal 
of the core and the crucible i enough ; but if 

• 

the clay is a little too damp, it will adhere to the 
iron, and is with difficulty loosened. If the clay 
should be too dry, on the other band, the crucibles 
are very apt to crack, or to become porous. With 
the proper degree of moisture, the crucible- are easily 
removed from the mould. The adhesion of imper- 
fectly prepared clay to the mould may be prevented, 
to some extent, by rubbing the mould with coke-dust, 
or laying sheets of paper or muslin in it; but tl 
expedients are troublesome, and the necessity for 
them should be avoided. 

The crucibles, after being moulded, are placed in 



BLISTERED STEEL. 139 

drying-stoves, where they are slowly dried by a libe- 
ral access of atmospheric air, gently heated. They 
are here dried hard, but not baked. The day before 
they are intended to be used, the crucibles are set 
upon an annealing grate, made of fire-clay, where 
they are covered with the refuse coke from the air- 
furnaces ; they are here baked, if it can be called 
baking, for one day. 

THE CAST-HOUSE 

Has a great resemblance to a brass foundry. 
There are a dozen or more air-furnaces in one or two 
ranges, their tops being on a level with the under- 
mined floor of the building, as shown in fig. 26. It 
is very convenient to have the top of the furnaces 
level with the floor, as it gives the workman a better 
chance of lifting the crucible with the melted metal. 
The ash-pits are below the floor, in a subterranean 
vaulted passage, from which the grates derive a sup- 
ply of cool air, which favours the rapid combustion 
of the fuel. The crucibles are made and dried in 
these vaults. The pit of the air-furnace is a square 
cavity ; if intended but for one crucible, it is twelve 
inches square — if for two, it is twelve by eighteen 
inches. The crucibles being six inches wide at the 



140 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



Fig. 2G. 




top, there is a space of three inches all around* 
The depth of the fire-pit, from the top of the grate- 
bars to the floor, is twenty-four or twenty-sis incl. 
The flue leading from the furnace to the stack is 
three and a half by six inches in a single, and three 
and a half by nine indies in a double furnace. The 
crucible stands on a s^)le-piece of two or three inches 
high ; this may be either a piece of fire-brick, a lump 
of fire-clay, or the bottom of an old crucible. The 
in-walls of the furnaces are made originally of fire- 
brick, but are repaired wfth mud, taken from the 
roads where a certain kind of quartz, called " ganis- 



BLISTERED STEEL. 141 

ter," is used in macadamizing. The grate-bars are 
square bars of wrought-iron, seven-eighths or one 
inch in thickness, and are loose, so as to admit of 
being pulled out if necessary. 

A very hard shingling coke is used in these fur- 
naces, broken to the size of an egg. The grate is 
supplied with air by natural draught, which is very 
strong in these furnaces, as there is an almost verti- 
cal ascent of the burnt gases. 

A crucible full of metal requires four hours for 
melting, and three heats are made in a day. The 
first operation is to put the fresh crucibles upon their 
stand, and kindle a small fire around them ; or, as is 
generally the case, to put the crucible upon its sole- 
piece in the gently heated furnace. The crucibles 
are generally taken from the annealing fire, and, 
while still warm, set in the furnace. The heat upon 
the crucible is gradually but slowly raised, by charg- 
ing more coke, until it assumes a white heat, which 
operation requires more than an hour's time. When 
the crucible is hot, and of course glazed, the furnace 
top-plate — a sort of iron trap-door — is raised, and 
a tapered sheet-iron pipe is inserted into the hot pot. 
Through this pipe the pieces of blistered steel are 
gently lowered into the bottom of the crucible. The 
pots are usually of the capacity of thirty pounds, 



142 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

though a large sized pot will readily contain forty 
pounds of pieces. 

A cover made of pot-clay, which fits the crucible, 
is now laid upon it, fresh coke given to the fire, and 
the heat gradually raised to the melting point of 
steel. This operation requires from one to two hours ; 
and in the mean time the furnace is frequently open- 
ed, and fresh coke charged, so that the fuel may be 
higher than the top of the crucible. Before the steel 
is melted, the lid is removed, and a little bottlc-gl;. 
or pounded blast-furnace slag, is thrown in. This 
will form a vitreous cover on the surface of the melt- 
ed steel, and exclude the access and influence of 
atmospheric air, in case the cover of the crucible is 
not sufficiently tight for that purpose. A great deal 
of fresh air draws in at the furnace door, even if it 
fits well. 

After the fusion of the steel, the crucible is still 
kept standing in the fire, to fuse it perfectly, and give 
time for the interchange of atoms in the fluid mass. 
As the melting process is chiefly for the purpose of 
making a uniform grain, those portions of the steel 
which have more carbon than others, have to dispose 
of a portion of it, and thus equalize the whole mass. 
When sufficiently fused, the crucible is lifted from 
the fire to the floor, when the cover is removed, and 



BLISTEKED STEEL. 143 

the scoria taken off by an iron rod, with a scraper 
attached to it. 

The tongs with which the crucible is lifted are pro- 
vided at their fire-end with arched claws, like basket 
tongs, to fit the circle of the crucible. The work- 
men, in getting ready for casting, cover -their hands, 
arms and legs with coarse bagging, formed into nar- 
row sacks, which they saturate with water before 
putting on ; they are thus protected against the in- 
tense heat. When all are ready, one smelter grasps 
the pot in the furnace, and conveys it to a certain 
spot on the floor. Other hands are ready to take off 
the cover, remove the scoria, and carry the crucible 
to the mould, into which it is cast as quickly as pos- 
sible. The smelter in the meanwhile gets his furnace 
ready for the returning crucible ; for there may be 
coke on the sole-piece, and, if so, it is necessary that 
it should be removed. 

As soon as the crucible is emptied, it is returned 
to the furnace, and the fire put in a condition to 
make another heat. The operation is now somewhat 
shorter, but very much like the first, 
13 



144 



MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



THE MOULD 



Is a hollow cast-iron prism, in two halves ; it is 
either a square or an octagon — the latter for round 
steel. Steel designed to be rolled in sheets, for saws, 
&c, is cast in flat moulds. The two halves of the 
mould, while casting, are held together by hooks; 
and it is set vertically in a narrow pit, so as to pro- 
ject but little above the floor of the building. The 
mould is well polished on the inside, and, shortly be- 
fore casting, is covered with a film of oil and finely- 
ground charcoal. It is perhaps three times the weight 
of the cast, and about three feet long. The upper 
end of the mould, into which the fluid steel is poured, 
is open, and of a bell-mouthed shape. 
Fig. 27 is a section of the mould. The 
pouring of the hot steel into the mould 
requires some dexterity and skill, if we 
expect to make a sound and uniform bar. 
The liquid metal is cast down in the cen- 
tre of the hollow mould, so that none of 
it shall touch the mould before it reaches 
the bottom. There are also larger 
moulds than those we have described, which take 
more than the contents of one crucible at a time, and 



Fig. 27. 




BLISTERED STEEL. 145 

in which steel bars of two hundred pounds are fre- 
quently cast. 

When the ingots are cold, the moulds are opened, 
and the steel removed and brought to the tilt, where 
it is treated like other steel. 

Cast-steel is much harder under the tilt than any 
other steel, and, what makes it still worse, it will 
bear but a low degree of cherry-red heat before it 
becomes brittle, and falls to pieces under the hammer. 
Nor will it bear piling and welding like other steel, 
but in this respect very closely resembles cast-iron. 
Another characteristic of cast-steel is, that it is 
always more highly carburetted than other varieties, 
in order to make it fusible. Steel which contains 
but little carbon requires too high a heat to be melt- 
ed to advantage in crucibles. 

AMERICAN STEEL 

Is manufactured in a manner similar to the fore- 
going described processes. There are some slight 
variations in the converting furnaces ; but they are 
not of sufficient distinctness and importance to war- 
rant us in giving a particular description of the pro- 
cess. We shall allude to this in the next chapter. 
There is but little cast-steel at present manufactured 



146 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

in this country. Indeed, what has been done may be 
looked upon more in the light of experiments, of an 
undecided nature, than as a regular and systematic 
course of manufacture. The apparatus does not 
differ in any respect from that described in this chap- 
ter, as we may show hereafter. 



GENERAL REMARKS, 147 



CHAPTER V. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON MAKING STEEL. 

WOOTZ. 

To make wootz, or Damascus steel, in the United 
States, is out of the question. Even if we had the 
materials, which we certainly have not, and if we 
could pay an exorbitant price for such steel, there 
would still be no inducement for its manufacture 
among us. The steel used in the United States is 
intended for the arts of peace ; and for such pur- 
poses, cast-steel, and shear or blistered steel, are all- 
sufficient. Wootz, and similar kinds of steel, are 
undoubtedly superior for instruments of war, and the 
finer descriptions of cutlery ; but these advantages 
do not make up for the expensive and tedious pro- 
cess of manufacture, and must for ever prevent its 
introduction among us. We need therefore say no 
more on the subject. 



148 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



GERMAN STEEL 

Is at present not manufactured in the United 
States, and will not probably again be attempted, 
because the particular kind of ore from which the 
Germans make their cheapest and best steel has 
never yet been found in such a quantity and of such 
a quality as to warrant the erection of steel-works. 
The fact that we have no spathic carbonate of iron, 
or sparry ore, however, does not, in our opinion, fur- 
nish a good ground for excluding the manufacture of 
German steel. There are localities where it might 
be carried on successfully. There is an abundance 
of pure and rich iron ore scattered over nearly all of 
the States ; and, though every ore, even if pure, will 
not make good steel, still there are many deposite9 
of rich ore which are in every way suited for the 
manufacture of natural steel. A great difficulty in 
the way of our advancement in this manufacture is 
the high price of labour, which renders us unable to 
compete with foreign manufacturers. Another diffi- 
culty is found in the fact that our operatives are 
not skilled in the manufacture. For the last thirty 
years, the aim of the iron manufacturers has been to 
increase the quantity, with, in most instances, an en- 



GENER'AL REMARKS. 149 

tire disregard of quality. Now, as the first requisite 
in the manufacture of steel is a superior quality of 
iron, it is not surprising that we encounter difficulties 
in the process. As the majority of our native work- 
men may be considered as belonging to the English 
school of operatives, and as the tendency of England 
has been to make cheap iron for export, we naturally 
fall into the same practice. 

German or Swedish working cannot succeed here, 
because our material and our social relations are so 
widely diiferent from theirs, that their mode of ope- 
rations is altogether unsuited to us. If we would 
succeed in this important branch of industry, we must 
cultivate our own resources, augment our knowledge 
of materials and the mode of working them, and 
raise a set of native hands, who shall take a proper 
interest in the successful prosecution tf their art. 

FIRST ELEMENT. 

In making steel, the first and most important ele- 
ment is the iron-ore. To be sure, steel may be made 
of almost any kind of ore ; but it would be found, in 
the end, that the product would cost more than it 
would come to. Bog ore, the common impure hema- 
tites, the compact carbonates and hematites of the 



150 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

coal formation, the clay ores and red iron-stones, the 
impure magnetic ores, and all our sparry ores, will 
make steel ; but the steel will never be of a good 
quality, and will always be expensive. There are no 
doubt many heavy deposites of very pure and rich 
iron-ore, particularly the rich ores of Vermont, Con- 
necticut, New York, and New Jersey; the beautiful 
hematites and pipe-ores of Pennsylvania j and the 
rich ore-beds of Ohio, Tennessee, and Alabama; hut 
it is questionable whether natural Bteel can be made 
successfully even of any of these ores. They at* 
adapted to make blister, shear, and cast-steel, and 
many of them will make a pure iron for conversion 
into steel ; but here their usefulness may be said to 
cease. Magnetic ore and pipe-ore, even if of the 
best quality, cannot profitably be converted into 
natural steel. 

We come now to the only ores which can with 
profit be used for the manufacture of natural steel, 
and which fortunately are found in great perfection 
and abundance. These are the ore of the Missouri 
iron-mountain, and the recently discovered deposites 
near Lake Superior. There are also fine specular 
ores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey ; but the 
amount is more limited than in the above localities, 
and the ore is not of so pure a quality. An iron-ore 



GENERAL REMARKS. 151 

to be converted into natural steel should be cheap 
and pure — either a carbonate or a per-oxide — to be 
profitable. 

The conversion of cast-iron into steel has been be- 
fore described ; it is by no means difficult if the pig- 
iron is suitable ; but, should the iron be impure, it 
is a tedious operation. Proper attention must be 
paid, in making natural steel, to the conversion of 
the ore into crude iron. The usual method of con- 
ducting a blast-furnace will not answer in this case. 
Crude iron for steel requires a very regular and not 
too heavy blast, a wide hearth, and steep boshes 
The charges of the blast-furnace ought to be entirely 
without lime, or at least with as little lime as possi- 
ble; and for the same reason, any ore containing 
lime is to be rejected. Hot-blast is to be avoided by 
all means; it should never be used where good 
wrought-iron is made, and is utterly unsuitable for 
steel. Charcoal is the best fuel for the blast-furnace ; 
it should be of pine, coarse and well charred. All 
brands and pieces of uncharred wood must be care- 
fully rejected. 

A leading object in making cast-iron for natural 
steel is to purify it of all admixtures but of carbon ; 
and for this reason particular attention must be paid 
to the operation. The ere is therefore to be pure, 



152 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

clean and dry, and, if not a per-oxide, well roasted 
by charcoal or wood. Fluxes should be avoided, if 
possible; the iron oxide or manganese itself is to be 
the flux ; the cinder is then of a brownish colour and 
glassy fracture. The hearth-stones are to be of fine- 
grained sandstone, with a liberal admixture of clay. 

Another important object in the operation is to 
flux the impurities of the ore by -pending or wast- 
ing some of the iron in the ore; for this purpose, a 
cheap ore is Deceesary. So long as we insist upon 
having thirty-nine out of the forty parts of iron 
which an ore may contain, there is no possibility of 
obtaining an iron which is suitable for making steel. 
We require not only a pure iron, but also an iron 
which contains carbon, if we would make good steel ; 
and to secure such iron, we have to charge a liberal 
quantity of charcoal along with the ore, being care- 
ful not to raise the heat in the furnace so high as to 
cause impurities in the iron. In short, a low heat, 
and an abundance of coal and good ore, will produce 
a superior steel ; it is idle to hope for it in any other 
way. 

Our deposites of rich pure ore are of so great an 
extent, and in such abundance, that a ton of the ma- 
terial costs a mere trifle ; and if charcoal or wood 
can be had equally low, the place for a steel-works is 



GENERAL REMARKS. 153 

indicated. Steel does not cost so much in the article 
of labour, as for materials ; where the latter are ex- 
pensive, the steel of course is so ; but where materials 
are abundant and of good quality, there is no impe- 
diment to carrying on the business successfully and 
profitably. As we have already said, the present 
mode of conducting blast-furnaces will not produce 
iron sufficiently good for conversion into steel ; and 
we have indicated the faults in the system. 



BLISTERED STEEL. 

In making blistered or cast-steel, there is little or 
no difficulty; the mechanical operations of conver- 
sion, melting and tilting, are well performed by our 
workmen, and it is unnecessary to make any further 
remarks upon them. But here, as in the case of the 
natural steel, the difficulties in the manufacture arise 
from the quality of the iron used in conversion, and 
not from any want of skill in manipulation. 

The American steel at present in the market shows 
that we have the means of making good steel, but 
that there is some deficiency in the quality of that 
produced. In Pittsburgh some very excellent spring- 
steel is made ; indeed, it is superior for springs to 



154 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

any of the imported article. In Philadelphia, large 
quantities of converted steel are worked into saw- 
blades of excellent quality. All this steel, amount- 
ing to near seven thousand tons annually, is made of 
iron which is smelted from hematite and pipe-ores. 
There is frequently some iron among that to be con- 
verted which would make fine shear or cast-steel ; 
but, as it is not of a uniform quality, it cannot be 
depended upon. This irregularity, which is a chief 
objection to this otherwise superior iron, is a serious 
and apparently insuperable impediment to the pro- 
gress of the steel factories. 

Cast-steel is manufactured in New Jersey, and 
also in Pittsburgh, at the present time. We know 
little of the progress of those establishments, how- 
ever, and suppose they suffer under the general com- 
plaint — imperfect iron. As it is of vital importance 
to the prosperity of steel-works to have good iron, it 
may be the better plan for us to define, first, what is 
good iron, and then show precisely how it should be 
made. 






GENERAL REMARKS. 155 



GOOD IRON FOR CONVERSION 

Is pure iron, no matter whether strong or weak. 
The strongest kind of iron is generally the least 
valuable for this purpose. Fibrous iron is usually 
inferior to short iron ; but the rule is not to be im- 
plicitly relied on. Iron may be fibrous, and still be 
pure, though there is little of it known which is of 
this character. Colour, strength and hardness are 
not unerring guides in arriving at a decision as to the 
fitness of iron for making steel. Bright iron, of a 
brilliant lustre, may contain phosphorus, silicon, or 
some other matter which renders it unfit for steel. 
The strongest fibrous iron generally contains more 
silex than other pure kinds of iron ; chemically pure 
iron is also fibrous, but it is weak. Iron may be 
hard, and yet make a superior steel ; but this is not 
often the case. 

The safest method of ascertaining the quality of 
iron for conversion is by actual trial ; but this is an 
expensive experiment when the iron proves bad, as a 
single trial in a converting furnace of but one box 
requires from six to ten tons of metal. It is practi- 
cally impossible to obtain iron that is perfectly pure ; 
but the nearer we arrive at that standard, and the 
14 



156 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

less foreign admixture there is, the more suitable is 
the iron for conversion. 

A good plan for ascertaining the purity of iron is 
to submit it to chemical analysis. Iron may contain 
carbon to any extent ; but if it contain more than 
one-two-thousandth part of silex or silicon, phospho- 
rus, sulphur, calcium or lime, copper, tin, or arsenic, 
it will never make first-rate steel. The quality or 
value of the iron in this CMC is in an inverse ratio 
to the amount of impurities it contains. 

An analysis of wrought-iron is not easily made, 
when the object is to find very small quantities of 
foreign substances; it requires a skilful manipulator, 
and good apparatus and re-agents. It may not be 
improper here to refer to Professor James Booth, of 
Philadelphia, as in every way qualified to make the 
necessary tests. 

We have said that for conversion we need pure 
iron, no matter how it looks, or how weak or strong 
it may be. Such iron, however, is not so easily 
made. The first step towards success is pure, rich 
iron-ore, no matter of what kind. Magnetic ore is 
generally preferred ; but this is on account of its 
being usually richer and more free from impurities, 
and those of such a nature as to be got rid of in the 
refining process. There is no essential difference 



GENERAL REMARKS. 15? 

between the ores which makes one more qualified 
than the other. The process in the blast-furnace is 
of the same nature as that described in the foregoing 
pages for making natural steel. For this purpose we 
require a pure grey or mottled pig. We may then 
sum up thus : The blast-furnace is to be charged with 
well-prepared ore, little limestone, less coal as above, 
an excess of ore, cold blast, and regular working. 



MAKING OF THE IRON FOR CONVERSION. 

Grey pig-iron of the kind we have described is 
boiled in the forge-fire; that is, it is not passed 
through a run-out fire, as is now frequently done at 
our forges. It is charged to the fire, and melted 
down a whole heat at once. This grey iron, when 
melted, is or ought to be perfectly fluid ; and by di- 
recting the blast upon it, with continual stirring, it 
is brought to boiling. It works rather slowly by this 
method ; but it is the proper way to make good iron. 
The process can be accelerated by throwing scales, 
or rich magnetic ore into the fluid iron ; but here 
speed is obtained at the expense of quality ; for, un- 
less the magnetic ore is freed of every particle of 
impurity by washing, the iron will be inferior to that 



158 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

produced by the slower method. Anything, no mat* 
ter what, thrown into the iron to make it work faster, 
is injurious, and seriously degrades the quality of the 
metal. 

The liquid mass is kept boiling under continual 
stirring until the iron crystallizes into lumps, which 
are brought before the tuyere, and, under the influ- 
ence of a strong heat, welded together. A large 
quantity of cinder is kept all the time in the hearth, 
which is occasionally tapped, particularly when the 
iron is about to be welded and shingled. 

It is useless to think of making good steel-iron of 
white plate-iron, or iron which does not boil. If the 
crude iron is pure and of the best kind, it still re- 
quires time, skill, and labour to reduce the amount 
of impurities to such an extent as to make good iron. 
As the purest iron is never too pure, there is no limit 
to the qualitative improvement of this description of 
iron. 

The puddling process is not so far perfected as to 
enable us by its use to make good steel-iron ; our 
knowledge of the operation is entirely insufficient for 
this purpose. There is no other method at present 
known to us but the charcoal-forge, good pig-iron, 
plenty of coal, and careful and competent men to 
conduct the operations. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 159 

The description given in Chapter IV. of the appa- 
ratus and manipulation for converting and melting 
steel are sufficient for all practical purposes ; but we 
will here allude to some leading principles which it is 
important to know. A remarkable feature in the 
nature of steel is, that it continues to be steel until 
it is melted, when it turns into white cast-iron ; and 
this is true of all the varieties of steel. A know- 
ledge of this fact is important in constructing con- 
verting furnaces ; they should be so constructed as to 
give a uniform heat over the whole interior, that one 
part of the chest might not become hotter than an- 
other. The strength of cast-steel would be no greater 
than that of white cast-iron, if it were melted in an 
apparatus where it could absorb impurities. The 
iron in the converting-box is in contact with foreign 
matters which are injurious to steel ; and if the con- 
verted iron melts in such a box, its fitness for steel is 
generally destroyed. If iron could be cemented to 
any degree we chose, it would gradually be converted 
into a fine grey cast-iron, in which form it would ab- 
sorb little or none of the cement. The combination 
takes place only when the iron is in a molten state. 



ICO MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



THE CEMENT 

Consists principally of charcoal ; and there is suf- 
ficient evidence that pure charcoal will make the best 
steel. All descriptions of iron, however, are not 
similarly composed ; and as carbon alone does not 
make the very best steel, there is a necessity for a 
compound cement. The charcoal is used in the form 
of a coarse powder, the grains of the size of blasting 
powder; it is sifted, and the fine dust, a great deal 
of which is made in pounding the coal, is thrown 
away. Sometimes the charcoal is cut by a sharp 
knife, set in a machine similar to a straw-cutter. 
Charcoal made from the harder woods, such as white- 
oak and black-jack, hickory, dogwood, sugar maple, 
&c, give us the greatest quantity of cement, and of 
the best kind. The addition of refuse tobacco, such 
as is thrown away by segar manufacturers, may prove 
of advantage to the cement. An addition of ten or 
fifteen per cent, of pure lampblack is also an im- 
provement, but rather expensive. In the Western 
States, or the bituminous coal region, lampblack may 
be made cheaply ; but if not of the purest kind of 
coal, it will injure the steel. Sulphurous coal, there- 
fore, should not be used. Anthracite powder, coke 



GENERAL REMARKS. 161 

powder, and black lead or plumbago, are inadmissi- 
ble, either pure or in admixture with charcoal. The 
cement generally in use is composed of charcoal 
mixed with one-tenth part of good wood-ashes, and 
about one-thirtieth of common salt. The whole of 
it is then moistened and well mixed. Some estab- 
lishments vary the cement slightly, but the majority 
use the proportions above given. 

For some descriptions of iron, charcoal alone 
makes the best cement. In such cases, the wood of 
the gum, poplar, sassafras, &c, which make but little 
ashes, should be charred. Charcoal made from pine 
is to be rejected, as it is too soon exhausted. Some 
metallurgists have tried and recommended the addi- 
tion of borax, prussiate of potash, horn, bones, vine- 
gar, manganese, sal-ammonia, and a variety of other 
things ; but none of these admixtures have any be- 
neficial effect upon the steel. 

Experiments have been tried with a view of mak- 
ing steel by conducting carburetted hydrogen gas 
between bars of hot iron ; or leading carbonic oxide 
gas to it ; or cementing with diamond powder, and 
similar projects. These experiments, however, have 
all proved abortive ; bad iron cannot be converted 
into good steel, under any circumstances ; and it is 
certain that charcoal powder is at least equal to dia* 



162 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

mond powder, or anything else that has been tried 
up to the present time. 

The size, form and material of the converting- 
chest has some influence on the quality of the steel 
made. For spring-steel, the boxes may be three feet 
high and three feet wide ; such a box will take a 
charge thirty inches high. The chest, however, had 
better be not more than thirty inches each way ; this 
size will consume a little more fuel than the other, 
but that loss is richly made up in the superior quality 
of the product. In wide and high chests, particu- 
larly the latter, the central bars are never so well 
cemented as they should be, while the extreme bars 
absorb too much carbon. As a general rule, Ameri- 
can converting-chests are not wider than thirty inches; 
while in Europe we frequently find them of the larger 
size mentioned. 

The length of the boxes is unlimited, except by 
the strength of the furnaces. Long boxes require to 
be w r ell secured by iron binders ; of course, with 
shorter boxes, this is not so important. In this 
country we find no boxes less than twelve feet long, 
and they do not often extend beyond twenty. The 
grate is somewhat troublesome to manage in long 
furnaces ; but this is not of much consequence. The 
size of the grate is of some importance in the result; 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



163 



it is better in all instances to have it too large than 
too small. A grate two feet wide by thirty inches 
deep is a good size for bituminous coal, with thirty 
inch boxes. For wood or anthracite coal, the grate 
should be four feet wide. In this case the boxes 
will be rather far apart, because the bottom of each 
box is to rest on solid masonry, and there will con- 
sequently be a considerable loss of heat. To avoid 
this loss, we put another box in the open space, thus 
making three boxes in the furnace. The middle box 
is to rest upon a series of fire-brick arches, which are 
sprung upon the tongues ; and as these arches are 
higher than those tongues, the middle box will be 



Fig. 28. 




164 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

higher than the other two, and the whole will assume 
the arrangement represented in fig. 28. 

The flues around the boxes are to be of uniform 
size, and so arranged as to make an equal heat all 
over the furnace. If, after the first trial, it is found 
that the boxes work hotter in one place than in an- 
other, the flues in the hottest parts arc to be made 
narrower. The arch is to be as flat le, and 

at least nine inches thick. The spring or height of 
the arch will depend upon the resistance of the rough 
walls of the furnace; if these arc secure, and tho 
furnace well provided with iron binders, the arch 
may be very flat. The flues are generally in the 
centre of the arch : but should the furnace work hot- 
ter in the centre than on the sides, some flues may 
be opened at tho sides, where it is found to work too 
cold. In some instances the boxes have no flues at 
the ends; this is allowable where spring-steel only is 
made ; but for shear or cast steel it is an ill-advised 
economy, as the ends of the bars are always better 
cemented when the fire plays freely at the ends of 
the chests. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 165 



THE KIND OR QUALITY OF MATERIAL 

Used for chests is not only of importance so far as 
durability is concerned, but it is also of influence in 
the quality of the product. In this country, and 
also on the continent of Europe, the boxes are made 
of fire-brick ; but in England they are not unfre- 
quently made of sandstone slabs. The first consider- 
ation is the durability of the boxes, and the absence 
of fissures in the material. Pure clay is the best 
material, so far as its influence upon the quality of 
the steel is concerned ; but it is liable to cracks and 
fissures, and its expansion and contraction are too 
great to admit of durability. The addition of fire- 
sand to the clay renders the latter much more dura- 
ble ; but the steel is injured just in proportion to the 
amount of sand in the admixture. Good fire-brick 
is perhaps the best material for chests ; and here 
Pittsburgh has a decided advantage in its Johnstown 
brick. A similar brick, known as the Mount Savage 
fire-brick, is obtained from Cumberland county, Ma- 
ryland. The clay for these bricks is not at present, 
but ought to be, formed into slabs of a sufficient 
length to cover a flue, and of half the height of the 
box, and then burned. Such slabs would be very 



166 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

durable, and the material is decidedly favourable to 
the quality of steel. 

Sandstone slabs of good quality may be found in 
the anthracite coal region ; but they would cost quite 
as much as fire-brick. It is possible that the Mary- 
laud soapstone can be used to advantage; but. <■■ 
sidering that a good fire-brick chest may last for 
many years, it ifl scarcely advisable to risk the expe- 
riment for the sake of the trifling saving which might 
perhaps be effected. 

In the Western States, particularly in the coal- 
fields — the only localities where Bteel can be made 
to advantage in the West — there is no alternative 
but to use good fire-brick, that in which clay predo- 
minates. Slabs of freestone may be had in that 
region of all Bises and compositions; but the stones 
of the bituminous coal-fields are very liable to break 
when heated, and never bear alternations of temper- 
ature without injury. 

The thickness of the sides of the chest is gene- 
rally two inches, which is quite sufficient; but a 
greater thickness does no other harm than that it 
requires the use of more fuel. 









GENERAL REMARKS. 167 



A NEW BOX 

Should be gently dried and heated up to its normal 
heat, and then slowly cooled, before any iron is 
charged. This is necessary to open those fissures 
which may be invisible in the bricks or joints. At 
each heat, before any iron or cement is charged, the 
box is to be carefully examined, and the smallest 
crevice or joint cautiously filled with a fire-clay which 
is chiefly composed of finely-ground and well-burnt 
fire-brick. The most diminutive opening in a box 
may cause great loss by burning a portion of the 
iron, and rendering it unfit for steel or any other 
purpose. Care must also be taken to prevent any 
iron, such as binders, wedges, plates, &c, from com- 
ing in contact with the chest, as it injures the fire- 
brick. 



FORM OF IRON. 

It is not only the quality of iron which has influ- 
ence upon the manufacture of steel; a great deal 
depends also upon the form in w T hich it is used. Iron 
which has become rusty from exposure to the atmo- 
sphere is to be cleaned of its oxide, and not used 
15 



168 MANUFACTURE C F STEEL. 

until that is done. The iron bars for conversion, t 
should be as free from scales or hammer-dag afl pos- 
sible ; on this account, hammered iron is preferable 
to that which has been rolled. Rust or hammer-slag 
forms a coating of very close and compact carburet 
of iron, through which the carbon cannot penetra 
All coarse fibrous iron, even if of good quality, should 
be rejected, as it makes imperfect steel ; the same 
may be said of iron which is unsound, splintery, and 

scaly. The $ize of the iron, also, is a matter of 
some importance. Swedish and German iron for 

conversion is usually of the thickness of a common 

horse-shoe or wagon-tire. In Pittsburgh, rolled b 

of four or four and a half inches are generally used. 

In Philadelphia, m Blabs for cementation of 

about two feet long, five or six inches wide, and thn 
fourths of an inch thick. 

Bars for blistered steel, shear-steel, and all those 
kinds of steel which are not melted, but simply tilted 
or rolled, should not be thicker than half an inch, or 
even less. The difference in a thick bar, between the 
exterior and interior parts, is too great to be removal 
by simply tilting or rolling them. Bars which are 
designed for cast, spring, or coarse blistered steel, 
may be three-fourths of an inch ; but they should be 
longer exposed to the heat, and, in the case of cast- 



GENERAL REMARKS. 169 

steel, the conversion should be two or three times 
repeated. 

Shear-steel, to be profitably manufactured, requires 
thin and small bars, which need but little refining to 
be uniform. The inducements to use heavy iron are 
a saving of time and fuel. A box which will take 
seven tons of wagon-tire size will take but six tons 
of horse-shoe bars ; while at the same time it will 
contain ten tons of four inches by three-fourths of 
an inch. Very small iron is too unprofitable in the 
blistering process, even if of greater advantage in 
refining. The bars should be always at least two or 
three inches shorter than the boxes, as iron expands 
more by heat than brick, and an iron bar of twenty 
feet in length will gain two and a half inches by the 
time it is red-hot. 

There is a point also in the size of the furnace, at 
which it is found that the iron works most advan- 
tageously. Small iron and small furnaces work 
faster and more uniformly than large iron and large 
furnaces ; the only disadvantage being that they use 
more fuel. Where fuel is cheap, and where shear-steel 
is to be made, or steel refined in any form, it is more 
profitable to use small iron and small furnaces ; for it 
saves labour in tilting and re-heating. Furnaces so 
large, and iron so heavy, as to require more than ten 



170 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

days for conversion, are not profitable ; because the 
charcoal cement works but for a certain time in a 
certain heat, and all additional time and heat is use- 
less waste. Bars which require more carbon than 
can be given to them in a week's time, like those for 
cast-steel, had better be converted a second time with 
fresh cement. 



THE FIRING OF A FURNACE 

Is to be conducted with intelligence, particularly 
at a large establishment. Too rapid firing not only 
injures the furnace and boxes, but exhausts the ce- 
ment before the iron is sufficiently heated to absorb 
the carbon thus liberated. The cement or charcoal 
is a very bad conductor of heat ; and the heat of the 
most intense fire would scarcely reach the centre of 
the box before that of a more moderate character. 
Two or three days are required before a cherry or 
bright-red heat is given to the boxes ; and after this 
it is gradually increased to a white heat, which is 
kept up regularly and constantly without diminution 
until the operation is finished. 

Small furnaces require four or five days and nights 
— large ones, from that to ten days. The kind of 
fuel has some influence on the time of conversion. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 171 

Anthracite appears to be the best fuel ; and bitumi- 
nous coal is superior to wood. 

A good steel-maker knows pretty nearly when a 
heat is done, if he is acquainted with his materials. 
To assist his judgment, the trial-bars are drawn when 
he thinks the process has been completed. These 
bars may be either of the whole length of the box, 
or but two or three feet long ; the iron is to be of the 
same quality as the other iron in the box. The 
breakage of the bar will of course show whether the 
whole of the metal has been converted into steel, or 
whether a core of iron is left in the centre. If the 
latter should be the case, the heat is continued until 
another trial shows a sufficiency of carbon through- 
out the bar. Spring-steel may be good enough for 
the purposes for which it is used, even if it has an 
iron core in the centre ; but the other varieties of 
steel, such as that for saw-blades, shear-steel, mill- 
steel, &c, are of but little value unless thoroughly 
cemented. Blistered steel, to be suitable for conver- 
sion into cast-steel, must have an abundant supply 
of carbon. 



172 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



CLOSING OF A IIEAT. 

When the conversion is sufficiently advanced, the 
furnace doors are closed, the chimney-top and the 
flues in the arch stopped up, and the furnace left to 
cool, which will require from two to five days, or half 
as long as the conversion. If the furnace is cold, or 
so far cooled as to admit of the entrance of a man, 
the doors and flues are reopened, and the workmen 
remove the converted bars. The size and form of 
the blisters on the surface show very nearly the kind 
of iron used, and the quality of the steel made from 
it. The best steel shows small blisters of uniform 
size ; coarse and imperfect iron shows both small and 
large blisters in great profusion ; a sound iron has 
but few blisters, and those of a large size ; coarse 
fibrous or puddled iron shows hardly any blisters. 
Blistered steel, on coming from the chest, if well 
converted, is very brittle ; if strong, it generally con- 
tains iron ; but there is no rule to be depended on : 
short iron makes short steel, even if imperfectly con- 
verted. The produce of a box, if designed for cast- 
steel or refining, is assorted according to the size of 
its crystals in the fracture, and laid by for either the 
one or the other purpose. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 17o 



THE TILTING OF STEEL, 

As described in Chapter IV., has been sufficiently 
explained, and requires no addition here. Steel for 
springs and saw-blades, if made directly from blis- 
tered steel, is rolled like sheet-iron, and not subjected 
to tilting or refining. A few remarks, however, are 
needed in reference to the chemical characteristics 
of cast-steel. 



CAST-STEEL. 

In former years, many experiments were made by 
Europeans, and in America also, to make cast-steel 
in a more simple way, with the hope of avoiding the 
converting process. It was thought that cast-steel 
could be made directly from the iron, without resort- 
ing to the use of blistered steel. These experiments, 
however, have utterly failed, and are now scarcely 
thought of. We will enumerate some of them as a 
matter of curiosity : The melting of wrought-iron to- 
gether with carbon, or lampblack ; the melting of 
protoxide of iron with lampblack ; protoxide of iron 
and grey cast-iron ; and the melting of pure wrought- 
iron. These experiments were so erroneous in prin- 



174 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

ciple, that success can hardly have been expected. 
Even if this were not so, the practical difficulties are 
so great, as to render success almost impossible. If 
too much carbon were used, the product would be 
cast-iron ; if too little carbon, we should have 
wrought-iron ; and if the admixture were precisely 
correct, the burning of a part of the carbon, which 
would be almost unavoidable, would destroy or injure 
the steel. 

The inexperience of some metallurgists, inducing 
them to pronounce hard brittle wrought-iron to be 
steel, has been the cause of many errors. Some of 
these learned men insisted upon making good steel 
by melting grey and white cast-iron together, or, as 
before remarked, grey cast-iron and wrought-iron ; 
or carbon, plumbago, or diamond dust, together with 
wrought-iron. All these and numerous other experi- 
ments show that the nature of steel never was under- 
stood by these men. They assumed that any iron 
combined with a certain amount of carbon would 
make steel, which is not true. They did not discri- 
minate between pure and impure wrought-iron — did 
not know that most iron is too impure ever to make 
steel. How absurd to recommend the melting of 
volatile carbon and refractory wrought-iron together ! 
Even if the iron is of pure quality, it is almost im- 



GENERAL REMARKS. 175 

possible to guess the exact quantity of carbon ; and, 
further, the danger of burning the carbon before it 
comes in contact with the hot iron, as we have said, 
is almost unavoidable. 

The expense of conversion is too small to permit 
us to think of such projects. Blistered or converted 
steel is sold at an advance of but one cent per pound 
upon the cost of iron ; and in this advance are com- 
prised the profits of the steel-burner and the mer- 
chant. Who would think of cutting wrought-iron 
into small fragments, or converting it into borings or 
filings, for the munificent profit of one cent per 
pound ! Even if this could be done, which we posi- 
tively deny, what would be the gain ? It certainly 
requires less time and fuel to melt blistered steel, 
than would be consumed in melting iron and carbon 
together. However allowable such experiments 
might be in Europe, where fuel is high and labour 
cheap, they are both unnecessary and unadvisable 
here, where fuel is abundant, and labour compara- 
tively scarce and high. 



176 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



ALLOYS OF STEEL. 

Experiments which tend to form a better quality 
of the steel in the process of manufacture have also 
been made, but with little success. Alloys of Bteel 
and other metals have been made by melting them 
together; but none except the alloy of steel and sil- 
ver ever came into practical use. This was compo><<l 
of steel and one five-hundredth part of silver, and 
was for a time known as silver-steel of superior qua- 
lity. It has probably fallen into disuse, as we do not 
hear of it at the present day. Other alloys than 
those of the precious metals deteriorate the value of 
steel, and there is some doubt as to the beneficial 
effect of silver. On the whole, we may conclude 
that there is no advantage in forming any alloy of 
steel; it increases the expense, without any corre- 
sponding improvement. 



SELECTION OF THE CONVERTED BARS. 

In making cast-steel, the most important object is 
the selection of the converted bars. The fragments 
of steel to be charged and melted together in the 
crucible are to be uniformly and highly cemented, 



GENERAL REMARKS. 177 

and free from any iron cores. Not only is a highly 
finished cementation necessary, but all the blistered 
fragments should be of the same iron, and of the 
same heat of conversion. For cast-steel, the most 
highly cemented, bars or parts of bars are selected, so 
as to have some excess of carbon, because a portion 
of it is lost in melting. The uniform grain, and con- 
sequently uniform hardness, of good cast-steel is en- 
tirely dependent upon a proper selection of the blis- 
tered steel which is subjected to the melting process. 
The throwing together of heterogeneous fragments 
of steel is often the cause of imperfect results. 
German or natural steel, or blistered steel made of 
imperfect iron, is never suitable to make good and 
uniform cast-steel. A perfectly fluid state of the 
steel in the crucible is absolutely necessary, and this 
is to be further assisted by stirring the liquid mass 
repeatedly before casting. This is done with a rod 
of good iron ; impure or puddled iron is inadmissible 
for this purpose. The melting of the steel is expe- 
dited by selecting the most highly cemented bars, or 
subjecting the bars to be melted to two or three con- 
versions. Such steel will not be injured by losing a 
little carbon, and this in burning will raise the heat 
in the crucible. Where there is sufficient carbon, 
some pure black manganese is laid in the bottom of 



178 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

the crucible. The manganese, in being reduced to 
protoxide, combines with such silex and alumina as 
may be freed from the iron, and forms a slag which 
strongly resists the tendency of the carbon to decom- 
pose. The oxygen liberated from the manganese 
serves to increase the heat in the pot. Nothing but 
pure black manganese is admissible ; any foreign 
matter will injure the steel. The manganese should 
be subjected to a careful chemical analysis before it 
is employed. 

THE FORM OF THE AIR FURNACES 

For melting steel has been already described; 
they are much better adapted to the purpose than 
those of any other form. A sort of reverberatory 
furnace has been proposed and tried ; but it has not 
been found of much advantage. The square form is 
decidedly in advance of the round form of the fire- 
pit. In the Eastern and Middle States, anthracite 
is the best fuel for these furnaces, and is successfully 
employed in Jersey City, in the steel-works of the 
Adirondac Company. In the Western States, coke 
is used ; and its excellence depends upon the hard- 
ness and purity of the coke. The fuel should be dry 
and warm before it is used, as, if not so, the pots 



GENERAL REMARKS. 179 

are in danger of breaking. Charcoal is a very good 
fuel, but it is entirely too expensive. There is not 
much profit or economy in double furnaces, or fur- 
naces having two pots. 



POTS. 

Of the material of which pots are composed, and 
of the manner of making them, we have spoken else- 
where ; we will therefore make but a few additional 
remarks on their form and composition. 

It has been said that a mixture of plumbago and 
clay forms the best material for the construction of 
these pots ; but in practice we do not find this to be 
the case. Pounded coke, anthracite or charcoal, are 
also added; but with little advantage. The best 
crucibles, on many accounts, are those made of pure 
fire-clay ; and the only objection to them is that they 
are liable to breakage, from their inability to resist 
a sudden change of heat. The addition of old pot- 
sand and a little coke-dust diminishes the brittleness, 
and is therefore of great advantage. Instead of 
coke-powder, the powder of burned or charred an- 
thracite — such as has passed through a blast-tur- 
nace, or the heat of a re-heating furnace in a rolling 

mill» — may with a good effect be substituted for com- 
16 



180 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

mon coke-dust. These ingredients should be perfectly 
mixed, and subjected to strong pressure in the pot- 
press. 

A saving in fuel may be effected by making the 
pots of a conical form ; but, on the other hand, they 
do not last so well if too much tapered, and the qua- 
lity of the steel is also injured. The cylindrical form 
is the best for quality and durability ; but these are 
obtained at a greater expense of fuel. Tots are ge- 
nerally of three and a half to four inches diameter 
at the bottom, and from four and a half to five inches 
at the top ; the height varies from twelve to sixteen 
inches. It is not advisable to melt more than fifty 
pounds in one crucible at a time ; the usual charge is 
but thirty or forty pounds. 



FLUX. 

The flux used to cover the melted steel, and pro- 
tect it against the air and flame of the furnace, is 
glass-powder. It is not indifferent what kind of 
glass this powder is made of; glass which contains 
much iron, lead, arsenic, manganese, or, in fact, any 
metallic oxides, will not answer for the purpose, and 
should be carefully avoided. So also of crystal, 
crown, and coloured glass. What we require is a 



GENERAL REMARKS. 181 

hard, strong, soda glass, such as is generally used for 
good window-panes ; it is white when in thin sheets, 
but assumes a light-green appearance as it increases 
in thickness. 

A flux is not absolutely necessary if the pot-covers 
fit well ; indeed, if good glass cannot be had, it is 
better to use none at all. Any other flux, such as 
potash, soda, or glass compositions, must be scrupu- 
lously avoided ; they are all positively injurious to 
the steel. We have said enough to show the import- 
ance of providing good pot-covers. 

How long a pot should be exposed to heat, is not 
very easy to say. If the steel is not very fluid, it 
may require five or six hours before the operation 
can be completed ; and if so, the steel will not be 
good. In Sheffield, from three to four and a half 
hours is considered sufficient. Steel which melts in 
less than three hours is brittle, and not strong. A 
perfectly limpid, and not a slimy, pasty state of the 
liquid steel, is necessary, and should continue at least 
a quarter or half an hour, under repeated stirring. 
The mould after casting is covered with fine sand or 
clay, to protect the hot steel from the air. 



182 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



TILTING OF STEEL 

Is one of the most important operations in the 
manufacture. Good tilting improves the steel, while 
imperfect work degrades it. Experience is the only 
safe guide here. The force-hammers should strike in 
rapid succession, even if the blow is slight. The de- 
gree of heat in the bars varies according to the qua- 
lity of the steel ; cast-steel bears the least, and natu- 
ral steel the highest heat. Too hot or too cold tilting 
makes the steel brittle. 



NATURE OF STEEL. 183 



CHAPTER VI. 

NATURE OF STEEL. 
HARDNES S. 

When heated to redness and suddenly plunged 
into cold water, or suddenly cooled in any other way, 
steel becomes hard — so hard, if of good quality, as 
to scratch glass. The degree of hardness depends 
not only on the quality of the steel, but also on the 
degree of heat to which it has been exposed, the me- 
dium in which it is cooled, and the manner in which 
that cooling is performed. 



FINE CAST-STEEL 

Is susceptible of a high degree of hardness, almost 
equal to that of the diamond ; but it is then too brit- 
tle to be of practical use. Shear-steel is less hard, 



184 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

if hardened in the same manner as cast-steel, and is 
still more brittle. Spring-steel is not capable of so 
great a degree of hardness as either of the above 
varieties, and, if manufactured from hot-blast or 
impure iron, is very brittle. 



GERMAN STEEL 

Is frequently found to be very hard and tenacious, 
equal to good cast-steel ; but the quality of German 
steel is so irregular, that no dependence can be placed 
upon it. We frequently find very hard and tena- 
cious steel, and very soft and brittle steel, in the 
same bar of but a few feet lon£. We often also find 
fibrous iron and good steel in the same fracture of a 
bar. The hardest iron or steel known is the white 
cast-iron or steel-iron of Germany, of which German 
steel is made. It is, however, so brittle when hard- 
ened, that it will not serve for any practical purpose. 
Some kinds of wrought-iron may also be hardened, 
but the metal is never sufficiently tenacious to assume 
a fine edge ; for the edges formed of it are so brittle 
as to break when exposed to slight pressure. 

The hardness as well as the nature of steel are 
greatly affected by exposure to too much or too little 
heat. A dark cherry-red heat is sufficient to give to 






NATURE OF STEEL. 185 

the best kinds of cast-steel their greatest degree of 
hardness. Shear-steel will bear a higher heat than 
cast-steel, and German steel will bear almost the 
welding heat of iron — at least a bright white heat — 
without injury. Every kind of steel has a certain 
degree of heat by which it assumes the hardest as 
well as the most tenacious form. If heated beyond 
that point, the thin steel cracks, and the heavier 
pieces fly, either in the cooling operation, or after 
the termination of that process. If cast-steel is 
heated to whiteness and cooled, it loses its peculiar 
hardness and tenacity, becomes brittle, and can never 
be restored to its original quality. German and 
shear-steel, if the latter is well refined, can bear con- 
siderable heat without much deterioration in quality. 
Blistered steel is more sensitive to heat than any 
other variety, and for this reason is not suitable for 
welding to iron, or making miners' tools of, though 
it is frequently applied to those uses. Blistered 
steel will not admit of such frequent hardening as 
other steel. If it has been injured by too frequent 
heating and hardening, it may be somewhat improved 
by forging with quickly repeated blows of light ham- 
mers, and gentle heating. If open cracks from hard- 
ening are in the steel, a slight welding heat is to be 
given in addition. 



186 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

The more steel has been forged, and the higher 
the heat it has been exposed to in manufacturing, the 
more work and higher heat will it bear in the subse- 
quent operations. It never assumes the high degree 
of tenacity that marks cast-steel, however, even if it 
should become as hard as the latter. Cast-steel is 
the hardest and most reliable steel, if cautiously 
heated. If steel is heated below its normal heat, 
and cooled suddenly, it does not assume its natural 
hardness. German steel, heated to a cherry-red, 
remains as soft as it was in its tempered state. This 
degree of heat is variable, as remarked above ; but if 
the hardening heat is not carried to the proper point, 
the hardness of the steel is always less than its qua- 
lity would lead us to expect ; in most cases, it is as 
soft as if tempered. 



THE REFRIGERATION OF STEEL, 

For the purpose of hardening it, is performed in 
most cases by simply heating it, and plunging it sud- 
denly in cold water. This process is frequently va- 
ried by moving the hot steel rapidly in the water, or 
by violently disturbing the water. The rationale of 
this process is the difference of temperature between 
the hot steel and the cooling medium, as also the 



NATURE OF STEEL. 187 

time in which it is performed. If the steel is hotter 
and the water colder, the steel will assume a higher 
degree of hardness, or become brittle. By the same 
degree of heat in the steel, water with ice or snow in 
it will make the steel harder than water of 70° or 
100°, which is generally used in the blacksmith's 
shop. To increase the hardness of steel, without 
being obliged to expose it to an injuriously high heat, 
it may be plunged into mercury, w T hich gives it a 
high degree of hardness, because it cools more ra- 
pidly. After quicksilver, follow a solution of salt, or 
water slightly acidulated by sulphuric or other acid. 
Spring or hard water imparts more hardness than 
river or rain-w T ater. Oil and fat leave the steel softer 
than rain-water ; and cooling in sand, or between 
cold iron, as in the jaws of a vice, or cooling in air, 
either in motion or at rest, have all been tried, and 
impart a greater or less degree of hardness, accord- 
ing to the order of their enumeration. Steel heated 
to its highest point, and plunged in the coldest me- 
dium, becomes what is called glass-hard ; that is, it 
will scratch glass ; but it is usually very brittle. 

Not only the cooling medium, and the heat of the 
steel, but the manner in which the refrigeration is 
performed, have influence upon the hardness and 
tenacity <?f the steel. If hot steel is thrown to the 



188 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

bottom of a vessel of cold water, it does not assume 
a high degree of hardness ; but if a rapid motion is 
given to it, it speedily becomes hard, and the hard- 
ness increases with the rapidity of the motion. Large 
pieces of steel, which have to acquire a high degree 
of hardness, are refrigerated under a rapid current 
of water, which falls upon it from a certain height. 
The best swords at present manufactured are hard- 
ened by giving them a rapid motion in the atmo- 
sphere. Several kinds of saws, and other articles 
of steel, arc hardened by simply hammering them. 
Engravers' tools, if made of good steel, assume the 
finest edge or point by being hammered with quickly 
repeated strokes of a very small hammer, upon the 
edge which is to form the cutting point. 

TEMPERING. 

The fact that each variety of steel requires a dif- 
ferent degree of heat for hardening it, and the diffi- 
culty of estimating that heat, because there is no way 
of measuring it, has given rise to the operation of 
tempering. The steel is therefore heated to the high- 
est degree which it can bear without being perma- 
nently injured, and is then cooled so as to impart to 
it the greatest hardness. It is then ground or pol- 



NATURE OF STEEL. 189 

ished so as to show a bright surface, and gently re- 
heated until the bright surface shows a certain colour. 
The colours produced by the increasing heat on the 
bright surface are, in succession, yellow, brown,, pur- 
ple, light-blue, dark-blue, and black. These shades 
are used for the following purposes : yellow for 
lancets, razors, penknives, cold-chisels, and miners' 
tools; brown for scissors, chisels, axes, carpenters' 
tools, and pocket-knives; purple for table-knives, 
saws, swords, gun-locks, drill-bits and bore-bits for 
iron and metals ; and blue for springs, small swords, 
&c. Articles which are to be softer are made still 
darker; but when the black shade is reached, the 
steel is annealed and soft. These colours are the 
result of oxidation. The increasing thickness of the 
film of oxide which accumulates on the bright surface 
of the steel is less and less transparent as the heat 
increases. The character or composition of the oxide 
is in all cases the same. 

In a blacksmith's shop, the tempering is generally 
done by heating the object, if a chisel or pickaxe, 
from the heavy part towards the edge ; and when the 
heat moves towards the edge, and has imparted the 
desired colour, the instrument is suddenly plunged 
into cold water, to arrest further tempering. The 
thick part is thus not only tempered, but annealed, 



190 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

because it is heated beyond tempering. This mode 
of tempering tools is practical, and based on correct 
principles ; but it requires care on the part of the 
blacksmith that he does not go beyond the colour 
which he intends to impart. The degree of hardness 
is tested by scratching the article with a file ; but the 
test is uncertain, and shows merely if the hardening 
is too soft, but not if it is too hard. 

Sometimes the tempering is performed by covering 
the steel with a film of oil or fat, and heating the 
steel until this oil or fat 18 inflamed. This is a v« 
imperfect method, and cannot be depended upon ; it 
generally makes the steel too soft. Small objects 
are very well tempered by putting the steel between 
the jaws of the fire-end of a pair of blacksmith's 
tongs, which arc heated beyond the tempering point. 
As soon as the steel shows the desired colour, it is 
dropped in cold water. This is perhaps one of the 
most successful methods of tempering steel. 

A somewhat scientific, but at present not much 
practised mode of tempering, is to heat the glass- 
hard steel in a bath of fusible metal, kept at a cer- 
tain heat, the objects being laid on an iron plate. 
This way is best adapted to temper knife-blades and 
saw-blades in masses ; but we should hesitate to re- 
commend it for general use. 



NATURE OF STEEL. 191 



CHARACTERISTICS OF STEEL. 

The signs by which to distinguish good from bad 
steel are very difficult to describe ; however, we shall 
endeavour to do so. If there is an opportunity of 
forging some of the steel, it is advisable to do so ; 
for there is no better means of ascertaining its true 
nature. A bar is gently heated to cherry-red, and 
drawn out into a gradually tapering square point. 
The operative who performs this labour, if familiar 
with working in steel, will judge of the quality from 
the manner in which it forges. If it is cast-steel, it 
forges harder than any other ; after this follows good 
German steel, then shear-steel, and at last blistered 
steel. Hard wrought-iron is the softest. If the trial 
is performed, and cannot be depended upon for want 
of experience, the forged point is heated to cherry- 
red, and cooled in cold water; if possible, ice or 
snow-water. After this hardening it is tried by a 
file, and, if it should be found to be soft, it may be 
concluded that it is either iron or German steel. It 
is then heated again to a higher degree of heat, and 
hardened; if it is not hard after this heat, which 
may be a white heat, it is iron. In either case, the 

steel is to have a uniform heat : for the thin point 
17 



192 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

will naturally be hotter than the thicker portions. 
The hardened point is then screwed between the jaws 
of a vice, and just enough broken off to show the 
fracture. The power used in breaking forms the 
rule by which to judge of the tenacity of the steel 
under trial. The broken point may be tried by 
crushing it under the face of a hardened hammer, 
when laid upon a dull but hard file. If the steel is 
good, it will resist the crushing, and will cut the 
hammer-face and the file. The degree of resistance 
of this grain of steel to the crushing power is the 
best rule by which to judge of it ; for many kinds of 
steel feel hard to the file, and even cut glass, or other 
hardened steel, and yet show no tenacity. Here we 
find the true criterion of good cast-steel, and natural 
or German steel. The latter may be as hard as the 
first, but is never as tenacious when glass-hard. As 
tenacity in steel is of greater importance than hard- 
ness, it is an object to attend to this trial most care- 
fully. Hard iron will be found to be easily ground 
to dust in the experiment. Some kinds of steel, par- 
ticularly those which have been forged a great deal, 
or which never had much carbon, or in which other 
matters predominate over carbon, will not bear to be 
drawn into fine points. It may be quite strong when 
in large pieces, or even tenacious ; but still it will 



NATURE OF STEEL. 193 

that is not sufficient. Steel which is really good will 
take a fine point, and be tenacious if not tempered, 
unless it has been overheated. If the steel will not 
take a point, it of course will not receive an edge, 
and is therefore useless for any of the finer articles 
of manufacture. The white crude steel-iron of the 
Germans is harder in a body than the hardest cast- 
steel, or the hardest German steel ; but it will not 
take a strong point, nor receive a fine, smooth edge. 

The marks by which to know good steel, by sight, 
sound, or strength, are fallacious, and cannot be de- 
pended upon unless assisted by long experience ; and 
even then the result is always uncertain. The fresh 
fracture of steel is of a silver-grey colour, inclining 
in many instances to white, particularly in shear and 
German steel. Certain kinds of cold-short wrought- 
iron have a similar appearance and bright fracture ; 
but they are far from being steel. 

Hardened, refined, or much-forged steel is always 
more bright in its fracture than cast, annealed, or 
tempered steel. The lustre of a fresh fracture in 
steel, however, is as uncertain as its colour. Phos- 
phorus and silicon have the property of imparting a 
rich lustre to iron as well as steel, and hence the dif- 
ficulty of distinguishing steel by this test. Hard- 
ened steel has more lustre than that which is tern- 



194 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

pered, and hammered steel more than that which is 
annealed. Cast-steel not hardened frequently shows 
a fracture similar to that of fine-grained cast-iron. 
Baltimore pig-iron has more the appearance of gooH 
cast-steel in its fracture, than many kinds of shea* 
and natural steel. 



TEXTURE. 

The most characteristic feature of steel is its tex- 
ture, or grain. The grain of good steel, when hard- 
ened or soft, is uniformly round when viewed through 
the microscope ; no flickering of light, as if broken 
by the planes of small crystals, is visible. The frac- 
ture shows a velvety uniformity, of a more or less 
white colour, and of more or less lustre ; but always 
of great regularity and uniformity ; no spots which 
are more bright or more dull than others. 

Good steel does not look like mottled cast-iron, or 
cold-short bar-iron. The fracture of good steel has 
the appearance of deadened silver ; it is of a uniform 
colour, grain and lustre, with the entire absence of 
sparkling particles. 



NATURE OF STEEL. 195 



SOUND 



Is a characteristic of steel. A well-forged and 
polished rod of sound steel, when suspended by one 
end and struck by any hard substance, emits a sono- 
rous, silvery tone. Iron does not possess this sound : 
fibrous iron gives out a dull, unpleasant sound ; cold- 
short iron is more sonorous, but still there is no com- 
parison between it and the silvery tone of a well- 
forged bar of steel. Hardened steel is less distinct 
in this quality ; and tempered steel emits but a dull, 
shingling sound, like a broken bell, or cracked porce- 
lain. German steel, as brought into market, is also 
inferior, because all this steel is chilled before being 
packed ; it is, however, in all instances, inferior in 
sound to cast-steel. 



COHESION 

Is one of the most characteristic qualities and the 
greatest merit of good steel. The absolute cohesion 
of good steel is twice as great as that of the best bar- 
iron, or 120,000 pounds to the square inch ; of good 
cast-steel, even 150,000 pounds. We refer to an- 
nealed and forged or tempered steel. Glass-hardened 



196 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

steel bears less weight than forged steel ; but the 
hardened and tempered steel bears still more. Steel 
which, when glass-hardened, bears but 100,000 
pounds, will, if tempered, bear 130 or 150,000. 
Good cast-steel is here again preferable to any other. 
What has been said of the absolute cohesion of steel 
may also be said of its relative cohesion ; it is far 
superior in this respect to either wrought or cast-iron. 

ELASTICITY. 

The most remarkable quality of steel is its elasti- 
city ; it is in this respect superior to any other ma- 
terial, India rubber not excepted. A good spring, 
made of good steel, will last for centuries, in constant 
use, without losing its flexibility. A good Damascus 
blade will bear any amount of bending, without de- 
viating the smallest fraction from its original form, 
when the bending force is relaxed. Good cast-steel, 
well worked, will do the same ; but its curvature is 
more limited, and it is more brittle, than Damascus 
steel. A clock or watch-spring, being always on the 
extreme of flexure, will last for years, or even cen- 
turies, without being deteriorated to an appreciable 
extent. 



NATURE OF STEEL. 197 

SPECIFIC GRAVITY. 

The specific gravity of steel is between 7.5 and 
7.9, according to quality and treatment. Hardened 
is not so heavy as tempered steel ; well-forged steel 
is the heaviest. Very much in this respect depends 
upon the quality of the steel. The best qualities are 
most subject to these expansions and contractions by 
hardening. 

The mode of working steel, also, has an influence 
upon this fluctuation. If steel is made too hot, or the 
difference between the heat of the steel and the me- 
dium of refrigeration is too great, for a certain kind 
of steel, it will expand a great deal in hardening ; 
but, if hardened by the proper heat, its expansion 
will be quite small. 

FUSIBILITY OF STEEL. 

The heat by which steel fuses is very variable ; but 
all kinds of steel melt at a practicable heat. The 
finest cast-steel melts at a lower heat than any other 
steel, and the German spring-steel requires the high- 
est heat — too high a heat for the best crucibles. 
We may assume that cast-steel melts at 2700°, blis- 
tered and shear-steel rather higher, and natural steel 
at 3500°. 



198 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL 



THE WELDING PROPERTIES 

Of steel are in many respects very decided, but 
vary in the degree of heat. The heat which is re- 
quired to weld German steel, to itself or to iron, is 
sufficient to convert cast-steel into cast-iron. The 
welding of two pieces of cast-steel is a matter o\ 
difficulty; but it may be welded to iron, by the help 
of a little borax, which is sprinkled on the joining 
surfaces to remove scales of oxide. Spring or shear- 
steel, and natural steel, may be welded to themseb 
or one to the other, or to iron, just as we cho< 
The heat applied in these cases is to be given with 
caution, to avoid the burning of the carbon ; for that 
would injure the quality of the steel. Sand or dry 
clay should be sprinkled over the hot steel, to pr 
tect it against the direct attacks of the blast. AY he 
iron and steel are to be welded together, the iron is 
always nearest the intense heat or blast ; the steel is 
held in the more subdued fire. If steel is heated too 
often or too intensely, it is transformed into iron, and 
frequently bad iro/i. Forging delays, but cannot 
prevent this result. 



: 



NATURE OF STEEL. 199 



MAGNETISM 

Is more tenaciously retained by steel than by iron. 
The latter absorbs it most quickly, but does not re- 
tain it well : the former absorbs it slowly, but retains 
it for years. The finest steel is more qualified to 
retain magnetism than any other; and steel of a 
dark-blue colour is superior to glass-hardened or ham- 
mered steel. The most uniform steel in hardness, 
texture, tenacity, and fineness of grain, is the best 
for magnetic instruments ; and cast-steel is of course 
to be preferred to any other. 



APPENDIX. 



In our last chapter we have enumerated the various 
qualities of steel, and their characteristics, in a con- 
cise form, to bring the subject properly beforo our 
readers. We shall now proceed to take a philosophi- 
cal view of the matter. 

Steel is certainly iron ; but it has less impurities 
or foreign admixtures than east-iron, with more car- 
bon and less of other impurities than most kinds of 
wrought-iron. We cannot say that steel is simply a 
carburet of iron ; that is not true ; for it contains, 
besides iron and carbon, many other ingredients. 
Steel, as it improves in quality, gradually increases 
the number of its component parts. These, at first 
sight apparent impurities, belong to its nature, and 
constitute, in proper connection with iron, the cha- 
racter of the steel. The best and finest steel, such 
as first-rate cast-steel, contains the largest quantity 

(200) 



APPENDIX. 201 

of alloyed admixtures ; these make the steel fusible, 
but at the same time impair its capacity to resist the 
action of heat without melting. Such steel cannot 
be welded to itself, or but with difficulty, and falls to 
pieces like cast-iron when struck by a hammer in a 
temperature at or beyond cherry-red. Blistered, 
shear, spring, and file-steel, and similar kinds, con- 
tain fewer impurities than cast-steel. But these de- 
scriptions of steel melt with great difficulty in a cru- 
cible, and are never so tenacious, fine-grained, and 
durable as cast-steel. German, Damascus, and simi- 
lar qualities of steel contain a still smaller amount 
of foreign matter ; they have body, and resist fire as 
well as wrought-iron ; but they have not the fineness 
of cast-steel. They are not, therefore, so capable 
of receiving a fine edge; nor are they so tenacious 
as cast-steel. 

If steel is, according to this, an impure iron, and 
a very impure iron, too, we are not to conclude that 
any impure iron will make steel, or that impure iron 
ought to make good steel. It is neither the amount 
nor the quality of foreign matter combined with iron 
which converts it into steel ; " it is the form in which 
foreign matter is combined with iron, which consti- 
tutes steel. " Every atom of the constitutional ele- 
ments of steel is to be combined with its fellow atom, 



202 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

bo as to form a well organized atom of steel — not to 
form an atom of iron, then an atom of iron and car- 
bon, and then a third atom of iron, carbon and sili- 
con, or other matter ; and these incongruous atoms 
grouped together in an irregular form. An atom of 
iron, which is alone, and is not combined with its 
ratio of other matter, is soft — is of another nature 
than its neighbour atom, which is combined with such 
elements as impart hardness to the combination. 
All the alloys are more hard than the elements of 
which they are composed ; and so it is with the 
alloys of iron. Pure iron is very refractor}' ; this 
causes the difficulty of fusing it as perfectly as other 
alloys, and it is therefore less uniform. Hence steel 
of impure iron is apt to be brittle or tender, and will not 
take a fine edge. Iron, such as cast-iron — and, in 
fact, any other alloy — if it contains too much of 
alloyed matter, is brittle. If it contains too much 
carbon, as in crude steel, it is very brittle. If sili- 
con, phosphorus, and other matter predominate, we 
always see brittle iron. Where the elements of com- 
position are well balanced, we generally find the iron 
tough, soft, and of good quality. Scotch pig-iron is 
one of the most impure kinds of iron manufactured 
in the world ; still, it has qualities which make it 
superior to any other iron as a foundry metal. Iron 



APPENDIX. 203 

smelted of some kinds of bog-ore, and by charcoal, 
frequently contains but one or two per cent* of phos- 
phorus and carbon, and still is so brittle as to be use- 
less for any purpose save shot. If to such brittle iron 
we add sulphur, copper, calcium, or similar matter, it 
improves in strength and utility. These are the rea- 
sons why a composition of various kinds of ore, melt- 
ed together, make a stronger iron than a majority of 
the ores, melted singly, would indicate. The same 
reasons explain why the quality and strength of 
wrought-iron is greater when compounded, in refining 
it, of various kinds of pig-iron. The composition is 
in all instances stronger than the average sum of 
strength of each kind of iron refined by itself. 

Steel is iron alloved with other matter : and no- 
thing can impart a more correct idea of the nature 
of steel, than the nature of alloys generally. These 
always fuse at less than the mean temperature of the 
fusing heat of the metals separately. Thus, pure 
iron is infusible ; but an alloy of ninety parts of iron 
and ten of gold is almost as fusible as gold itself. 
Pure iron, we repeat, is infusible, and carbon is infu- 
sible ; but when alloyed, they melt readily at a prac- 
ticable heat. Silicon is infusible ; but when com- 
bined with pure iron and carbon, the mass melts very 

readily. Five parts of lead, three of tin, and eight 
18 



204 MANUFACTURE OF STE^L. 

of bismuth, melted together, dissolve in boiling water; 
while th« mean degree of the melting heat of the 
component parts is 514°, or nearly a cherry-red heat. 
Almost all the alloys are malleable when cold, but 
brittle when hot; there are but few exceptions to this 
rule. This quality of the allojfl ifl very distinct in 
bronze, but still more in cast-iron. There are some 
kindfl of anthracite pig-iron which are very tenacious 
when cold, but which, in a cherry-red heat, cannot 
bear their own weight. There ifl a charcoal cast-iron 
used in Pittsburgh, of which turnings ten feet 1< 
may be cut, but which, at a cherry-red heat, drops to 
pieces by its own weight. If such iron is freed of 
the greater part of its alloyed matter, or if it is con 
verted into wrought-iron, it is as tenacious when 
almost at the welding heat, as when cold. 

Many alloys consist of definite erpiivalents of the 
single or component parts; and it may he assumed 
that a definite relation between metals exists in all 
instances, the same as the law of equivalents through- 
out chemistry and nature. It appears that peculiar 
properties belong to the rational compounds, which 
are not so definitely expressed in the accidental com- 
position. 

The law of combination of different metals is ex- 
emplified and has been observed in a number of cases. 



APPENDIX. 205 

Brass composed of definite equivalents, atom of cop- 
per to atom of zinc, when alloyed, is a far superior 
metal to that kind of brass which is not compounded 
according to this law. There are at present but very 
few instances of definite compounds investigated ; 
but it is in all cases strongly indicated that a rational 
compound is natural in all instances. 



THE HARDNESS 

Of alloys is generally greater than that of their 
component parts. A slight admixture of soft tin, 
say ten per cent., renders copper very hard and tena- 
cious. If the amount is more than one atom of tin 
to one atom of copper, the alloy of these two of the 
most malleable metals is so brittle as to have hardly 
any cohesion. One atom of tin to one of copper is 
the metal of which Lord Rosse's specula are made ; 
it is as hard as steel, and has so much cohesion as to 
bear working, turning, and polishing. Sixty parts 
of iron and forty of chromium form a composition as 
hard as diamond, though the metals separately are 
not hard. 

A high degree of hardness may be imparted 
to iron and steel by the admixture of one-fourth of 



206 MANUFACTURE OP STEEL. 

one per cent, of silver. Copper may be hardened 
externally by the fumes of zinc and of tin. Carbon 
and phosphorus have the same hardening effect upon 
soft iron. 



TES TENACITY, MALLEABILITY AND DUCTILITY 

Of the single metals is generally impaired in their 
alloys; the same is the case with iron and its alloys. 
More information on this subject may be deri 
from the "Encyclopaedia of Chemistry,' 1 by James 
C. Booth; articles, "Alloy" and "Affinity." 

An opinion expressed by eminent metallurgists on 
the nature of steel, namely, the hypothesis that the 
carbon in tempered steel is a mechanical admixture, 
while in crude white iron or hardened steel it is a 
chemical combination, is a doctrine to which we can- 
not agree at the present time. It has been proved 
that silicon is a necessary part in the constitution of 
steel. It has also been found that iron, in forming 
steel, which contains silicon, sulphur, phosphorus, 
arsenic, and similar matter, does not need or absorb 
as much carbon as if the iron is free from such ad- 
mixtures. Carbon may be replaced in steel by other 
matter. 

It requires more than common sagacity and pene- 



APPENDIX. 207 

tration to perceive the difference between the nature 
of the alloys of iron in the annealed state, and in 
their hardened condition. To assume, however, that 
the iron in the one case is a mechanical, and in the 
other a chemical combination, caused merely by the 
manner and time of cooling, is something which we 
cannot believe in. 

The hardening and annealing of steel is a pheno- 
menon of great interest, and rich in information ; 
but it is not a singular phenomenon ; it is related to 
those of the same nature in other metals, though it 
differs in degree. 

We do not commonly say that brass or bronze, when 
hammered, change from a mechanical mixture to a 
chemical alloy, or vice versa. The same phenomenon 
is observed here as in tempering or hardening steel. 
Bronze or brass becomes hard in hammering, and is 
softened by annealing, just like steel. More analo- 
gous, however, than the above metals to steel, is 
glass ; this, when heated and thrown into cold water, 
becomes very brittle, but by annealing is made soft 
and tenacious. We do not think of ascribing this 
difference in the nature of glass, when cooled slowly 
or suddenly, to the alteration of its constituent 
parts to such an extent as to convert it from a me- 
chanical mixture into a chemical compound. One 



208 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

of the essential conditions of transforming a mecha- 
nical mixture into a chemical combination is, that the 
atoms are liberated — that the mass is perfectly fluid, 
so that an interchange of atoms may be possible. 
In all cases, at least one of the constituent parts is 
to be fluid, or in a gaseous form, or a change from a 
mechanical to a chemical constitution is of course 
impossible. Now, if we admit that carbon in a gas- 
eous form may combine with iron chemically, if both 
in combination are suddenly cooled, we cannot admit 
that the same happens in glass; for in glass there is 
no element which can possibly be in an elastic fluid, 
or in a limpid state. Furthermore, silex, silver, man- 
ganese, and other matter, show a similar relation to 
carbon as iron ; and we do not think that anybody 
would assume two states of combination between iron 
and silicon, and between iron and silver ; the alloy 
may be soft or hard. It requires also a strong ima- 
gination to believe that in hammering annealed steel, 
a change from a mechanical to a chemical formation 
is effected, and still steel is hardened quite as well 
by hammering as by refrigeration. There is no heat 
to make carbon volatile. 

Speculations like the foregoing may seem, at first 
sight, but a waste of time, and of no practical use ; 
such, however, is not the ?ase. The theory or science 






APPENDIX. 209 

of any art is always, at first, based on hypothesis ; 
of the truth of which Ave can know nothing until it is 
demonstrated by experience. The nature of steel 
in its hardened and tempered state has not been, and 
cannot be, based upon positive facts ; we have to 
reason by analogy. The science of making steel, as 
well as the investigation of its nature, is therefore 
based, and will be always based, upon hypothesis. 
The nearer that hypothesis is to the true state of 
facts, the more perfect will be the science, and the 
greater will be the advantages derived from the sci- 
ence in the art of manufacturing steel. Thus far, 
science has been of very little assistance to this im- 
portant branch of industry ; the whole is based upon 
practice. Why is this so ? There is scarcely any 
art at the present time which is not indebted to the 
researches and investigations of our scientific men. 
We believe that the whole science of steel-making is 
based upon a false foundation — upon an incorrect 
hypothesis. 

In this country, steel-making is in its infancy ; it 
has in no way advanced so fast as the manufacture 
of iron. We have no ore which is almost native 
steel, like the Germans ; nor can we expend as much 
labour in making iron as is done in Sweden. Our 
social relations do not admit of it, and nature has not 



210 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

favoured us with similar conditions. Still, we have 
an abundance of good iron-ore, and a supply of fuel 
unparalleled in the known world. We have hands 
who are willing to work, and heads which are able to 
plan : why can Vic not make steel ? We make at 
present nearly eight thousand tons per annum ; but 
that is little in comparison with what is consumed, or 
w T ould be consumed, if it could be furnished at r 
Bonable prices. All the steel we now make is used 
for springs, coarse saw-blades, and files. 

The manufacture of steel is necessarily involved 
in great mystery. All practical manufacturers are 
agreed that good iron is all that is required to make 
good steel. The art is simple and infallible, if the 
proper ore or iron is at hand. The ore from which 
the Germans make their steel is the crystalline car- 
bonate, or sparry ore, which they possess in great 
purity. The making of steel from sueli ore is very 
simple, more so than the making of iron from the 
same ore. But we cannot make steel in the German 
fashion, as we have no such ore, nor any suitable for 
the purpose. There is sparry ore in Vermont, North 
Carolina, Missouri, and perhaps in other States ; but 
it is not adapted to the manufacture of good steel. 
Even if we had ore like the German, we should find 
that their process is not suited to our country. 



APPENDIX. 211 

The wrought-iron made from the German steel- 
ore is very fibrous, tenacious, and of great cohesion. 
The Swedish iron of which English steel is made, 
is tender, very soft, and has no strength ; it is al- 
most cold-short. There is therefore a great differ- 
ence in the constitution. In the first case, German 
iron is the result of decomposed steel; the crude 
steel, or a part of it, in the operation of refining, 
has been converted . into iron. In the latter case, 
this soft, tender Swedish iron is converted into steel ; 
and the softer the iron has been, the harder and 
more tenacious is the steel, provided the same labour 
is devoted to it. It is a fact that coke-iron will not 
make good steel, if treated in the best manner. 
Hot-blast destroys the quality of iron for steel, or, 
if not entirely, greatly injures it, even in the best 
kinds of charcoal-iron. Spring-steel may indeed be 
made of hot-blast and impure charcoal-iron ; but it 
will not have much strength, nor will it receive a fine 
edge. Experience has shown that hot-blast iron, of 
the same ore and from the same furnace, is much 
inferior to cold-blast ; so much, that nobody would 
think of using it for the purpose of making steel- 
iron. In Germany, every attempt to use hot-blast 
iron in the manufacture of steel has teen attended 
with ill-success. 



212 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

With these facts before us, we think it not difficult 
to form a reasonable hypothesis on the nature of 
steel ; and this hypothesis will furnish a basis upon 
which the art of making steel may be established 
more successfully than by the old theory. 

Pure iron is very soft, malleable, infusible, and 
cannot be welded. The admixture of any other mat- 
ter makes it stronger, harder, and fusible ; and a 
limited admixture imparts to it -the quality of weld- 
ing. Iron follows the same law as any other metal, 
and is subject to similar alterations of its nature by 
foreign admixtures. There is no essential difference 
between iron, and other metals and their combina- 
tions, as a class ; but there is a difference in the phe- 
nomena in degree. This is a general law of che- 
mistry, and no peculiarity of the metals. All alloys 
of metals, as we have said, are harder than the mean 
hardness of their elements ; and the same is the case 
with iron. We may say that carbon, or phosphorus, 
is not a metal. This does not alter the case, how- 
ever ; for phosphorus and carbon impart to iron the 
same quality as silver, arsenic, chromium, or copper ; 
all these make iron hard, and so does silicon. The 
only difference is in degree. One-fourth of one per 
cent, of phosphorus or silicon makes iron more brittle 
than five per cent, of carbon, or ten per cent, of cop- 



APPENDIX. 213 

per. All alloys of iron, without exception, are brit- 
tle, when combined with it in its pure state, even if 
they make steel tenacious, as do platinum and its 
kindred metals. Silicon and phosphorus impart to 
iron the highest degree of brittleness, and also of 
hardness ; silicon appearing to assume the first rank. 
Hardness and tenacity are always combined where a 
perfect and intimate chemical combination has been 
formed; this is a law throughout art and nature. 
Imperfect relations, or impure crystals, are never 
tenacious, never hard; where uncombined particles 
occur between the legitimate atoms of matter, every 
quality resulting from a perfect chemical compound 
is impaired. A mechanical admixture of water in 
any crystal impairs its lustre, its hardness, and its 
cohesion. 

Silicon and phosphorus appear to be related to 
iron, as zinc is to copper. The strongest heat can- 
not disengage all the zinc in combination with cop- 
per ; the latter will always retain sixteen per cent, 
of the former. By chemical means, however, we 
may separate them perfectly. The same is the case 
with iron and silicon, iron and phosphorus, sulphur, 
and almost any other matter in combination with 
iron. Heat alone never can remove sulphur or phos- 
phor is entirely from iron ; for, before all the sulphur. 



214 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

which is known to be very volatile, is expelled, 
the iron crystallizes for want of sulphur, and a por- 
tion of the latter is enclosed in the small atomic 
crystals, and cannot be removed until the crystal is 
re-opened. The same phenomenon happens with any 
salt dissolved in water, or in its mother-ley. Silicon 
is not volatile, and for that reason less inclined to leave 
iron than any other matter ; it may easily be seen why 
it is so difficult to separate silicon from iron. And 
as silicon makes iron very hard and very brittle, it is 
so much the more necessary to remove it, at least 
much as possible, before we can expect to have iron 
fit for making steel. We must be careful not to con- 
found silicon and silex ; for iron may contain twenty 
per cent, of silex, and be perfectly malleable, soft, 
and strong ; still, it would not make steel. 

Throughout nature a law prevails that all matter 
of one kind is combined in certain definite propor- 
tions with other matter of a different kind, to form a 
third matter of still another kind. If two or more 
kinds of matter are not combined in exactly given 
proportions, the new matter formed from the combi- 
nation is imperfect. Such imperfect matter does not 
show that beauty, that finish in all its parts, which it 
would possess if the elementary or combining atoms 
were in exact relation to their affinities. Such an 



APPENDIX. 215 

imperfect creation is impure, is abnormal. If such 
a law pervades all nature, as it certainly does in 
every instance, why should iron and its relative mat- 
ter make an exception ? We cannot think of any 
exception to the rule ; indeed, it is impossible that 
there should be any. 

In the case before us, it is difficult to produce a 
legitimate combination of iron with other matter. 
We shall endeavour to show the cause of this diffi- 
culty, and the necessity of removing it. 

Silicon is the most tenacious adherent of iron — 
its best friend ; but its influence is so great in mak- 
ing the iron hard and obstinate, that the greater part 
of it must be removed if we want the iron for steel ; 
indeed, we may say all which it is practicable to 
remove. The finest steel shows but one-eighth of 
one per cent, of silicon, and often less than that. 
Carbon, sulphur and phosphorus form volatile com- 
pounds with the oxygen of the atmosphere ; these 
compounds do not re-combine with iron, and are very 
easily expelled. Silex, the oxidized silicon, is not 
volatile ; nor is silicon itself; both remain, therefore, 
with the iron, in either one or the other form.. All 
other matter increases the fusibility of iron ; and so 

does silicon; but almost all other matter, with the 
19 



216 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

exception of a few metals, such as copper or silver, 
may be driven off by heat, or oxidized and evapo- 
rated. Silicon remains last of all ; and its admix- 
ture will have the effect of keeping the atoms of iron 
separate, or keeping the metal in a fluid state, until 
the silicon is oxidized and removed. The great co- 
hesive power of the iron particles will congeal the 
fluid iron compound before all the silicon or silex can 
be removed. It may therefore 1 1 that 

iron, no matter how it is manufactured, is entirely 
iVre from silicon or silex : because most of the iron-ore 
contains silex, the walls of the furnaces contain silex, 
all fuel contains it, and fluxes and Blag are not fl 
from it. Silicon make- iron hard — silex dot 
iron may be Btrong and tenacious, and contain much 
silex ; but it would not answer for the better qualities 
.of steel. Silex can be in wrought and cast-iron, but 
not in steel, and much le-s in hardened Bteel : for it 
will inevitably be converted into silicon by the c 
bon of the steel. We must not conclude, therefore, 
that soft, fine, strong bar-iron is any more fit for 
conversion into steel than even cold-short, worthless 
iron. The qualification of iron for steel cannot be 
correctly judged of from its appearance; it can only 
be ascertained by actual trial, and careful chemical 
analysis. 



APPENDIX. 217 

Experience shows that the best steel contains the 
largest number of components, the greatest variety 
of matter. Silicon, sulphur, phosphorus and arsenic 
are as necessary elements in the constitution of steel 
as is carbon. Good steel may be made by simply 
adding carbon to wrought-iron ; but then the quality 
of the steel will depend upon the chemical composition 
of the iron used. We lay it down as a principle, that 
the combination of iron with other matter to farm 
steel is to be a true compound of multiples ; and we 
assert further that the best steel is the result of such 
a combination, and the greatest number of the com- 
pound elements. The latter part of the above de- 
claration has been proved by experience ; the first 
part is a true deduction from the works of the Crea- 
tor. There is no finished form in the whole range 
of the creation but is the result of multiples of equal 
space, filled with matter of various kinds. 

In converting iron into steel, we have to combine 
it with such quantities of other matter as to form of 
one or more atoms of iron, one atom of steel. Steel 
is a new metal ; it is neither iron, glass, carbon, nor 
anything but steel ; it is distinct from iron and all 
its composing elements. Just as salt is distinct from 
muriatic acid, and distinct from soda, so steel is 
distinct from iron, or carbon, or sulphur, or silicon, 



218 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

or any other element. If ninety-nine parts of pure 
iron and one part of carbon form steel — we make 
use here of the true parts, instead of the equivalents, 
to be more explicit to those who arc not versed in 
chemistry — ninety-eight parts of iron and two parts 
of carbon make better steel than the first; and 
ninety-seven parts of iron and three of carbon make 
cast-iron; we are compelled to keep within the limits 
of two per cent, of carbon, if we want to form steel. 
If 98 partfl of iron, 1 of carbon, and 1 of silicon, 
form brittle, hard east-iron; 98 parts iron, 1J car- 
bon, and £ silicon, form Bteel; but 98 parts iron, 
l-£ carbon, and £ silicon, form better steel. We h 
to keep within the limit of ?, and | silicon, if we want 
steel at all. If 98 parts iron, 1 carbon, J- silicon 
and | sulphur, make rather brittle Bt< N parts 

iron, 1?, carbon, J- silicon and g sulphur, make a 1 
ter article — it would be unwise to put more sul- 
phur in. The same rule which guides our labours in 
these instances, is to be applied in all cases. Ev< 
addition of a new element requires an alteration in 
the quantity of the other components. 

The various elements do not combine in equal 
weights with iron, nor in equal weights among them- 
selves, to form the most perfect compound. We 
have no experience to guide us in determining the 



APPENDIX. 219 

relative quantities of the various elements in steel ; 
but science induces the conclusion that the elements 
in steel must be combined in the simple or compound 
ratios of their atomic weights. Good steel must ne- 
cessarily consist of one or more atoms of iron, one 
or more atoms of carbon, silicon, phosphorus, and the 
other elements. The atomic weight of iron is 339.2, 
of carbon 76.4, of arsenic 470, of azote 88.5, of cop- 
per 395.6, manganese 345.0, phosphorus 196.1, sili- 
con 277.4, and sulphur 201.1. All these elements, 
and still more, have been found in steel. They can- 
not combine in single atoms ; that is impossible ; 
there must be a starting point somewhere. If we 
commence with silicon, and argue that 1 atom of it 
combined with 25 atoms of carbon, the ratio of 
J to If parts, then it will require 322 atoms of iron 
to make 98 parts of iron. If such are the combin- 
ing numbers of these elements to form good steel, it 
is evident that, if there are more than 322 atoms of 
iron in the composition, the product will be a mix- 
ture of hard steel and soft iron, which of course will 
not make a reliable edge. If there are more than 
25 atoms of carbon, or 1 and a fraction of silicon, 
the same thing will happen ; for neither of them has 
any combination in steel. If there is more than 1 atom 
of silicon in 322 atoms of iron which is to be con- 



220 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

verted into blistered steel, we can well manage to put 
25 atoms or 1} per cent, of carbon into it. But if 25 
atoms of carbon and 1 atom of silex form the best 
ratio of alloy with iron to make steel, it is evident 
that, if there are 2 atoms of silicon to 25 of carbon, 
the compound is not good. If, in this instance, we 
alloy so much carbon with the iron as to produce 2 5 
atoms of carbon to 1 of silicon, the iron will be con- 
verted into good cast-iron. Here we are impelled to 
the conclusion that similar conditions prevail bet\v< 
all the elements of steel. 

We have it in our power to put as much other mat- 
ter into iron as we please, if the iron is pure ; but 
it is not in our power to combine it with a limited 
quantity of silicon; neither is it possible to remove 
all the silex from the iron, in the practical operations 
attending its manufacture. As the amount of silicon 
is to be very limited in steel, and as it cannot be re- 
moved from bar-iron or steel, it follows that its 
removal is to be accomplished before the iron is put 
into shape for conversion. 

From the foregoing investigations, we are led to 
conclude that steel is a definite compound of iron 
and other matter, and that silex is the chief obstacle 
to the formation of such a compound. All our ener- 



APPENDIX. 221 

gies are therefore to be directed against silicon, or 
silex ; beeause, if there is too much in the iron, it 
will degrade the steel. There never can be too little 
silex in iron to make good steel of it. 

How far practice confirms this theory, we will en- 
deavour to show. The East Indians, in making their 
iron for wootz, pound the ore very fine, and free it 
by washing, as far as possible, from all impurities. 
They then melt it in a small furnace, in a very short 
time, without lime or other fluxes, and obtain but 
one-fifth of the iron which the ore contains. The 
remaining four-fifths are converted into slag, which 
absorbs as much silex as its constitution will admit 
of; though that cannot be much, as the ore is pure, 
and the cinder has therefore to absorb its silex from 
the charcoal and the in-wall of the furnace. We see 
here how much care is taken to remove the silex at 
first, and the immense loss of iron that results from 
its removal. 

In making natural steel in Germany, the same 
principles are carried out, though not to so great an 
extent. The steel-ore of that country is naturally 
pure ; but it is still cautiously selected with respect 
to the making of steel. The blast-furnaces where 
these ores are smelted are well supplied with charcoal, 
and in most cases work without flux. Limestone, as 



222 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

a flux, is avoided as much as possible. Mos1 of the ores 
contain a large amount of manganese, which "fluxes the 
silex, and is in all cases the most efficient flux. It is 
a generally diffused error that manganese is essen- 
tially necessary to manufacture good steel ; there is 
no magnesium found in any steel ; it serves in every 
instance to absorb the silex. 

The crude iron of the Germans, which is highly 
purified, and contains hardly anything but iron, car- 
bon and silicon, loses in the first operation in the 
forge, where it is converted into crude steel, twenty- 
five per cent., and in each subsequent refining h< 
from six to eight per cent. ; so that, on an aver;: 
not more than fifty per cent, of partly iron and partly 
steel are obtained. Probably not more than twenty- 
five per cent, of good steel could be obtained from 
the crude iron. 

The process by which Swedish bar-iron is made, is 
that which is in general use in this country, and lias 
already been described. The difference in quality 
chiefly caused by crude iron and labour. Common 
Swedish bar is not particularly good ; we have, if not 
superior, at least equal qualities of charcoal-iron, 
even for steel-works. The Swedish and Russian iron 
of which common shear-steel is made, is, however, 
more uniform and pure than ours — the consequence 



APPENDIX. 223 

of more labour and material spent in making it. 
The best Swedish iron, that of which the finest Eng- 
lish steel is made, is not refined in what is called the 
German forge, but by a different process. The forge- 
fire is not lined with iron, or only on two sides ; very 
little iron is melted in at one heat ; no slag, scales 
or ore are used for boiling ; and the whole process 
goes on with great slowness and regularity. Much 
coal is used, much iron wasted, and a great deal of 
labour spent in the operation. The iron is very supe- 
rior, however, and is made nowhere but in the uplands 
of Sweden, near the ore-mines of Danemora. 

The burning of steel, or the converting process, is 
as well conducted in this country as in any other ; 
and there is also no difficulty in melting blistered 
steel, as well as tilting shear-steel. All we want is 
pure iron, and then there is no doubt that we shall be 
able to compete with the world in making steel. 

It is out of the question to imitate Sweden, Rus- 
sia, Germany, or any other country, in making iron 
or steel. We should cultivate our own means, with- 
out reference to their method, and succeed in our own 
way. We need not copy the processes of other na- 
tions, no matter how highly cultivated those processes 
may be. Ours are peculiar conditions, and in no way 
resemble those of any other people. 



224 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 



• 



The only practicable way of making steel in this 
country is, first to make blistered, and then c; 
steel, as is now done. But we want a better article 
than is made at the present time, and for this pur- 
pose we want better iron. There ought to be no dif- 
ficulty on this score ; for we have extremely cheap 
ore, and, in spending two tons of ore where now but 
one is used for the same amount of iron, and even 
more than that, there might t< o difficulty in ob- 

taining any quality of iron we desire. The magnetic 
ores at Lake Champlain are not but I in purity 

by any ore in the world ; indeed, they are almost 
pure iron; but they are at present of little value. 
There is no reason why, from this ore, we cannot 
make iron equal to the best Swedish, and wo could 
certainly make it more cheaply than we can import 
the common Swedish bar. Why do not the immense 
ore-beds in Essex county, New York, make good 
steel-iron? It certainly is not the fault of the ore; 
for that is of a very superior quality ; nor can it 
arise from any scarcity of timber — that also is found 
in the greatest abundance. New Jersey possesses 
large deposites of material, and has every facility for 
making good steel-iron; yet her great advantages 
are not improved. 

That Missouri and Wisconsin are not already in 



APPENDIX. 225 

the market with the best iron in the United States, 
may be excused on the ground of the infancy of the 
iron business in those States. There is no doubt that 
they could relieve us from the contribution we at pre- 
sent pay to Europe for good iron ; and we look for- 
ward with confidence to the period when our wants 
shall be supplied from those States. 

Pennsylvania is the only State where steel is made 
to any extent ; and seven-eighths of the whole amount 
manufactured in the United States is made by her. 
This is a little remarkable, as Pennsylvania is not 
favoured by nature for this quality. That State is 
hardly to be excelled in good merchant bar and 
foundry metal ; but her hydrates, pipe-ores, and 
argillaceous iron-stones, are not at all qualified for 
making steel, or at least not good steel. The evil 
of our not being supplied with the best kind of steel- 
rods, is chiefly owing to the desire of reducing ex- 
penses in manufacturing. The finest iron-ores are 
wasted to make blooms worth thirty-five dollars per 
ton ; while the judicious expenditure of but a few 
dollars more would convert the same ore into an iron 
equal to the common Swedish or Russian bar. 

We are forced to the conclusion, from all we have 
observed, that the making of good iron is not gene- 
rally understood, and that its importance is vastly 



226 MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. 

under-rated. We consequently suffer under a heavy 
tax to Europe for steel which we might readily make 
ourselves, and which we shall have some hope of 
making, as soon as our manufacturers relinquish the 
vain attempt to make cast-steel of puddled iron, and 
natural steel of anthracite or hot-blast iron. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 



BY A. A. FESQUET, CHEMIST AND ENGINEER. 



Ge^at changes have taken place in the metallurgy of 
iron, and especially in that of steel, since the stereotyped 
edition of Overman's work, dated 1851. We will try to 
fill up the gap in a concise way, but shall not attempt 
to describe all the processes devised or patented, since 
their number is legion, and still they come. We shall 
confine ourselves to the description and to an examina- 
tion of the principal methods of steel fabrication, which 
have really become practical manufacturing processes. 

GENERALITIES. 

We call steel a compound, combination, or alloy of 
iron with carbon, which can be melted, welded, and 
drawn out under the hammer, and which becomes hard 
by the sudden cooling of the red hot metal in a cold 
vehicle, water usually. 

20 227 



228 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

We think that the fused product of highly cemenl 
steel may be considered as the standard steel, in 
to purity and constancy of composition. Its physi 
properties of drawing, hardening, and welding, still i 
entire, although it must be welded at a low temperature 
and by a skilful workman. 

Steele above it in hardness and in amount of carl 
-.- to be weldable. They are harsh, and thei 
- on up until we arrive at cast iron. i below it in 

hardness and in amount of carbon, are more easily 
welded, but their hardness decreases until they run into 
wrought-iron. 

Our standard cast-steel, from highly cemented iron, 
contains «>n an average, 1 per cent of carbon. The 
steels most generally employed in the arts contain from 
0.50 to 0.75 of 1 per cent of carbon. 

The preceding pages and the above lines show that 

steel is an intermediary product I 31 and wrought- 

iron, with less carbon and fusibility than the former, and 
with more carbon and greater fusibility than the lal 

Therefore, if we take carbon from cast-iron, or add 
bon to wrought-iron, we can make All the pro- 

cesses of manufacture follow this rule. 

VARIOUS METHODS OF STEEL MANUPAl TUBS. 
Carbon is taken from pig-metal in the German pro 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 229 

of natural steel, as explained by Overman in the pre- 
ceding pages. By the fusion in the low hearth, run out 
fire, bloomery, or fining furnace, the air of the blast 
burns off part of the carbon. The difficulty of main- 
taining a perfect constancy in the blast, in the rapidity 
of the fusion, and in the quality of the pig-metal, added 
to the greater or less skill and attention of the operator, 
explain how the quality and composition of the product 
must vary. Moreover, the fining, that is to say, the re- 
moval and oxidization of the foreign matters, is not so 
complete as when wrought-iron is made; therefore, the 
raw material itself must be of remarkable purity. 

Puddled steel is another example of east-irun deprived 
of part of its carbon, in a reverberatory furnace, not only 
by the air of the flame, but also by the oxygen contained 
in the peroxides of iron of the cinder, which covers the 
molten mass. Here again, the fining is partial ; it is 
difficult to stop the operation at precisely a given time, 
and a pig-metal of the first quality is needed, if a pro- 
duct of some value be expected. Great quantities of 
puddled steel have been made, and continue to be manu- 
factured, and the process is much cheaper than the Ger- 
man method for natural steel. However, it is to be ex- 
pected that puddled steel will be replaced by other kinds 
of cheap steel made by more recent methods, although we 
believe in the superiority of the puddling furnace for the 



230 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

treatment of pig-metals holding a large proportion of 
phosphorus. The want of success of the process, as indi- 
cated in the foregoing pages by Overman, was especially 
due to the expectation, since then so many times re- 
peated, of making a good product from a poor material, 
by an incomplete purification or fining. It is wonderful 
how difficult it is for people to understand that, the 
more impure a material is, the more it requires to be 
purified. All former experience seems to be of no avail. 
For many iron masters, the name of steel implies unblem- 
ished purity, no matter from what material or in what 
manner the article has been prepared. 

We may diminish the proportion of carbon in pig- 
metal by an addition of pure iron ore, the oxygen of 
which burns the excess of carbon, whereas, at the same 
time, the iron of the ore is reduced to the metallic state. 
This process, proposed by Captain Uehatius, of Austria, 
has been considerably experimented upon, and has often 
given good products. The great drawback is the rapid 
destruction of the pots by a portion of the iron ore, 
which combines and forms a cinder with the silicate of 
alumina (clay) of the crucible, before the cast-iron is 
melted and can be acted upon. There is in the employ- 
ment of iron ore, the advantage, that a certain fining takes 
place from the energetic stirring given to the molten mass 
by the carbonic oxide gas, resulting from the reaction of 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 231 

the oxygen of the ore upon the carbon of the pig-iron. 
The combination is more thorough, and many impurities 
are oxidized and separated in the resulting cinders. 

Another method of reducing the per centage of carbon 
in pig-iron consists in diluting it in a greater proportion 
of wrought-iron. A great deal of cast-steel has been, 
and is still, made in pots by this process. The pots are 
charged with a mixture of fragments of cast and of 
wrought-iron, the latter consisting of muck bars made 
and cut for the purpose. It is a simple fusion, no fining 
takes place, except that due to a small proportion of 
peroxide of manganese often added to the mixture. The 
quality of the steel depends entirely upon that of the 
materials employed. 

Parry's process is similar to the preceding method, but 
he uses larger apparatuses. An ordinary, not a superior, 
quality of steel is made ; but the great advantage is, that 
inferior qualities of pig-iron may be used, because the 
metal is refined before it is transformed into steel. The 
inferior, and consequently cheap, pig-iron is puddled in 
the ordinary manner, and purified of the greater part 
of its sulphur and phosphorus. It is well known that 
by a well-conducted puddling operation, a great portion 
of these impurities is removed by volatilization, and 
especially by the cinders, which act as a cleaning bath. 
The blooms are rolled into muck bars, which are then 



232 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

cut and melted in a high cupola furnace with a certain 
proportion of pure cast-iron. The fuel must be of good 
quality. The resulting highly carburized steel, or rather 
white metal, is then further purified in a Bessemer 
converter. This last operation is somewhat difficult, on 
account of the small proportion of carbon and silicon 
in the material used ; nevertheless the material has been 
fined twice, and the process is a step in the right direc- 
tion for using inferior materials, the low cost of which 
allows of more extended manipulations. 

We now pass ko the methods by which carbon is added 
to wrought-iron. First ID importance is that by cemen- 
tation and fusion, already described in this work. AVe 
shall simply remark that it presents all the features 
necessary for the production of a perfect steel, provided, 
however, that the wrought-iron used is of good quality, 
and the operation is well performed. In this case, the 
metal has been fined until it cannot be fined any more, 
that is, until it has become wrought-iron. A good 
cementation imparts to it the proper proportion of car- 
bon, and the fusion in pots renders it thoroughly homo- 
geneous, and separates the small proportion of cinders 
and other impurities that had not been removed by the 
hammer or rolls. 

Lastly, wrought-iron, cut into fragments, is melted in 
pots with a certain proportion of charcoal, part of which 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 233 

combines with the metal, while the remainder is burned 
by the gases which penetrate the pot from the fire-place. 
Peroxide of manganese is generally added to the mixture, 
and, as its action is complex, we shall devote, further on, 
a special paragraph to this substance. This method is 
extensively followed, and requires a good wrought-iron, 
since there is very little fining. It is open to the objec- 
tion that the percentage of carbon in the steel, and there- 
fore its hardness, is variable, since the crucible covers only 
fit more or less closely, and allow of the burning of a 
greater or less proportion of the carbonaceous material. 
This inconvenience is not so great with cemented steel, 
because the carbon is already combined with the metal, 
and is not so easily burned off as wood charcoal. 

Cast steel has also been made from puddled steel, by 
simple fusion in pots. The metal becomes more homo- 
geneous, but there is little further fining, and if the raw 
material is impure, the product is also impure. 

We see, from what precedes, that under the name of 
cast-steel, many qualities of metal may be found, differ- 
ing in purity, hardness, and tenacity. 

Homogeneous metal, a newly coined name, is a low kind 
of steel, with a very small percentage of carbon. It is often 
quite impure ; but, as it has been obtained by fusion, its 
quality is the same throughout. It is homogeneously good, 
bad, or indifferent, according to the nature of the raw 



234 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

material used. Many kinds of so-called " Bes& mer 81 
rails" are nothing more than hon metal. In 

fact, when impure pig is employi d, it is preferable to make 
this article rather than a more highly carburized 

The manufacture of steel, direct from the ore, has often 
been attempted, with more or less satisfactory results. 
The apparatus is generally a fire similar to that of the 
Catalan forge, bloomery,or run oul fire. The ores must* 
of course, be rich and perfectly pure, Bince the finii 
but partial. We have examin< ral samples of« 

made of pure titaniferous ores, which were remarkable 
for their hardness and tenacity. As in similar operations, 
it will be difficult to stop the carburization or decarbui 
tion just at the desired time, for a given quality i 

We now come to the Bessemer and Martin pn 
in which the pig-iron is decarburized partly, or entii 
and afterwards recarburized to a given point. Or, the 
pig-iron is melted with wrought iron, or with oxid 

iron, then recarhnri/ed, etc. The chemical reactions are 
the same as those we have already examined; but the 
apparatuses and modes of operation are different, and re- 
markable for the quantity of the materials which cau be 
worked iu a very short time. 

For persons interested in patent office matters, the 
history of these processes cannot fail to be found very 
interesting. Let it be sufficient in this place to state that 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL, 235 

many have been the co-workers, and that in many in- 
stances, their failures were due to the employment of 
impure raw materials. Indeed, the success of Mr. Besse- 
mer dates from the time he began to employ pure Swedish 
pig-metal. 

BESSEMER PROCESS. 

When a blast of air is passed through molten cast-iron, 
the chemical action of the oxygen upon the silicon, car- 
bon, and even the iron itself, is sufficient to raise the 
temperature to such a point that, after complete decar- 
burization, the metal is liquid enough to be cast into 
ingots. The Bessemer process is based essentially upon 
the entire or partial decarburization of molten pig-iron 
by a blast of air passing through it. 

Two kinds of converting vessels are used, one which is 
stationary, and the other movable. The former is still 
retained in Sweden, and consists of a kind of cupola, 
which receives the molten metal from another cupola, or 
direct from the blast furnace. The air is injected near 
the bottom through several fire-clay tuyeres, which 
are inclined at a certain angle, so as to impart to 
the fused mass a rotary motion. In order to prevent the 
obstruction of the tuyeres by the metal, the blast is given 
before the metal is poured in, and until it is run out. 
The method by partial decarburization is followed out, 
and notwithstanding the difficulty of stopping the opera- 



230 



IMPROVEMENTS IX STEEL 



tion at the proper time, and the incomplete fining, the 
products are a superior B teel, which is used for 

fine wir»>, tools, ra/.< Such superiority La evi- 

dently due to the remarkable purit; the Swedish 
raw metal, and to its j bich 

allows of the non-employment of 8] 

The movable apparatus b, in every 
to the preceding one, even with equally pure materials, 
as it has been proven in comparative trials made in Styria. 




For impure materials, which require a complete decarburi- 
zation or fining, followed bya partial recarburization, it is 
necessary to be able to stop and restore the blast when 

desired, and this cannot be done with the nary 

apparatus* 

The movable converting vessel, or ( ■, revo] 

on two trunnions (Fig. 29) ; one of them is hollow and 
connected b) r a coupling box with the blowing machine, 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 



237 



the blast passing through a curved pipe along the lower 
part of the converter, and terminating in a metallic box 
beneath the apparatus. The other bears a strong pinion, 
to which a revolving motion is given by a rack at the end 
of the piston-rod of a double-acting water-pressure engine. 




Fig. 30. 



The converter itself (Fig. 30) is an ellipsoidal vessel 
made of strong wrought-iron plate. The upper and lower 
parts are bolted together. On the top is an oblique mouth 
for receiving the charge of metal, for the escape of gases 



238 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

and the running out of the steel. At the bottom a me- 
tallic box receives the blast and divides it through the 
tuyeres, five, six, or seven in number, with five holes in 
each. The trunnions arc fixed upon a large wnmght-iron 
belt, about midway of the apparatus. The inside lining 
must be very carefully made ; the refractory clay, stroi 
beaten into it, is mixed with a certain quantity of qu 
zose material called ganister, or ground firebrick, free 
from scoriae. 

The tuyeres are also made of fire-bricks, with all of 
the joints carefully luted. When the lining Lb dr 
charcoal or cuke fire is built in it, and all crackfl are 
closed. Afterward- a stronger fire ifl built, a certain blast 
is given, and the interior n 
salt. 

The ashes being removed, the converter is placed in a 
horizontal position, and the charge of pig-iron, previously 
smelted in a cupola or in a reverberatory furnace, is run 
into it by means of a trough lined with .-and. The eh. 
is then level with the tuyeres, and the blasl ifi turned on 
before the converter is made to revolve to its vertical po- 
sition, which is slowly done. After fifteen to twenty 
minutes of blast, and when the long and blue flam 
oxide of carbon has disappeared, the converter i> >wung 
again into a horizontal position in order to receive the 
additional charge of five to ten per cent, of spiegeleisen. 
Having again been made to assume the vertical position, 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 239 

after a few minutes more of blast, the steel is completed 
and run into a large ladle supported by a crane. From 
this ladle the ingot moulds are filled. 

The blast, after the introduction of the spiegeleisen, is 
intended to stir the mixture ; but, as at the same time 
part of the carbon is burned off, it is necessary to add 
more spiegeleisen than is needed for the desired per cent, 
of carbon in the steel. In several works, for instance in 
those of Seraing, Belgium, no blast is let on after the 
introduction of the spiegeleisen, and the mixture is con- 
sidered sufficiently intimate after the several pourings 
into the converter, then into the casting ladle, and lastly 
into ingots. 

Spiegeleisen (mirror iron) is a white pig-metal present- 
ing large and bright facets in its fracture, and holding a 
variable proportion of manganese (from 6 to 25 per cent.) 
and carbon, the latter in the combined state. This metal, 
which seems absolutely necessary in the manufacture of 
steel even from pure pig, which does not hold manganese, 
imparts to the decarburized iron of the converter the 
necessary proportion of carbon. The action of the manga- 
nese is complex, and we shall examine it further on. 

Several pig-irons from Sweden and Styria, which natu- 
rally contain from 2 to 4 per cent, of manganese, do not 
need the employment of a special spiegeleisen. The final 
carburization is effected with the same quality of pig 

which has been decarburized in the converter. 
21 



240 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

Whatever be the purity of the crude metal employ 
experience seems to have established the principle that it 
is preferable to decarburize the metal entirely, and then 
to recarburize it to the proper point. The fining by the 
blast is more complete, and it is easier to obtain a product 
of a given degree of carburization, than by arresting the 
decarburization at a given time, which can be ascertai 
only by the fugitive change in the color of the flams 

escaping from the converter. 

The molten metal charged into the converter is gene- 
rally melted in a cupola of in a reverberatory turn 
The cupola presents the advantage of working n 
rapidly and cheaply, and of not changing so much the 
nature of the pig-metal, which retains its carbon and 
silicon better than in a reverberatory furnace. On the 

other hand, the fuel must he pure, and the charge cai 
be retained molten a long time in the cupola, without the 
danger of chilling. The reverberatory furnace is .-till 
retained for the fusion of the spiegeleisen, and an oxidiz- 
ing flame or cinder should be carefully avoided. 

At several works in Sweden and Styria, and at those 
of Terre-noire and Creusot, France, where the converters 
are in close proximity to blast furnaces producing a suita- 
ble quality of pig-iron, the tapped metal is run directly 
into the converters. There is a saving in expense, and 
the nature of the metal is not modified as by a 
fusion. 



IMPROVEMENTS IX STEEL. 241 

The requisites of a Bessemer pig-irou are freedom from 
such injurious substances as sulphur, phosphorus, copper, 
arsenic, etc., and the presence of a certain amount of 
silicon, carbon, and sometimes of manganese. In appear- 
ance, it is gray pig. Part of the volatile and easily 
oxidized substances, such as sulphur and arsenic, may be 
gotten rid of during the operation. On the other hand, 
phosphorus, under the oxidizing action of the blast and 
the acidity of the cinders produced, has no chance to 
escape, but remains with the iron. This fact has been 
abundantly proven by analyses of samples of metal taken 
before, during, and after the operation. Over 0.05 
per cent, of phosphorus in pig-iron is decidedly injurious 
to the quality of steel, although certain kinds of Bessemer 
metal, of a low degree of carburization, have been found 
to contain 0.1 per cent, (one thousandth) of phosphorus. 

Silicon, which is not a desideratum in the finished pro- 
duct, is useful in the pig-metal because, by its combustion 
by the oxygen of the blast, it raises the temperature of 
the molten mass. The carbon has a similar effect. Manea- 
nese, in Bessemer pig-metal, is sometimes detrimental, un- 
less it be associated with rather a large proportion of silicon 
and carbon. In the absence of a sufficient proportion of 
these two heat-giving substances, the molten metal has a 
tendency to remain pasty, and to work cold, as it is said. 
The only explanation of this phenomenon we can offer is, 



242 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

that manganese, being more easily oxidized and its oxide 
reduced with more difficulty than that of iron, it follows 
that when the heat of the molten mass has not been rai 
at the start by the oxidization of a sufficient proportion 
of silicon, the manganese retains die oxygen of the blast 
and does not give it up rapidly enough to burn the carbon* 
and the metallic mass becomes and remains cold. 

The first period of the operation is one of seorihVation, 
during which the silicon is transformed into silica, and 
but little flame appeals at the mouth of the converter. 
Afterwards, the metal and the carbon are oxidized. The 
oxide of iron delivers up its oxygen to the carbon, and a 
portion of it forms a cinder with the Bilica. When the 
(ieearburization is practically complete, the remaining 
metal is wrought iron holding a very slight proportion 
of carbon, and contaminated with oxide. The subsequent 
recarburization by Bpiegeleisen or other suitable pig-metal, 
not only gives the desired percentage of carbon, but also 
reduces to the metallic state the oxide of iron, and restores 

the malleability of the metallic ma — . 

We believe that the failure to produce a Btee] of a 

desired degree of hardness, by the addition of a calcula 
proportion of recarburizing material, spiegeleisen for in- 
stance, is often due to the fact that the decarburized metal 
is more oxidized than it is thought to be. A portion of the 
carbon of the spiegeleisen is employed to reduce that oxide, 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 243 

and the proportion of carbon expected to remain in the 
steel is thus diminished. 

When the pig-metal employed is of the proper kind, 
and is poured hot into fhe hot converter, the charge is 
said to work hot, that is, the mass remains perfectly fluid, 
and the gases have no difficulty in escaping. On the other 
hand, white metals poor in carbon and silicon, work cold, 
that is to say, the metal remains thick, and the gases not 
finding easy means of exit, cause explosions to take place. 
As a rule, the more silicon and carbon in the pig-metal, 
the longer and the better is the fining. 

The end of the decarburization is ascertained in various 
ways : by stopping the blast after a certain length of time, 
practically ascertained after several operations upon the 
same pig-iron — by viewing the flame through an optical 
instrument known as the spectroscope, which enables the 
observer to detect a certain line in the spectrum or image 
of the flame, the disappearance of which line marks, to 
within a few seconds, the conclusion of the process — by 
the sudden decrease of the long blue flame, and its ap- 
pearance wnen viewed with the naked eye, or through 
different colored glasses (blue and yellow) superposed, 
giving a dark neutral tint. Through these glasses the 
flame appears white as long as the decarburization is 
going on, and turns red when all the carbon Has been 
burned olf« 



244 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

Converters of various sizes have been made, and those 
holding six tons of molten pig-iron seem to be those most 
in use at the pi time. The charge should, howei 

occupy but a small proportion of the space in diem ; the 
reaction and the builiiiLT arc hi violent that part of the 
metal would be thrown out if there were not plenty 
of room. A six-ton converter is about eleven feet high, 
and five and a half feel in its widest diameter. The blow- 
ing machinery, for medium sized converters, should be 
able to produces pressure of at least fifteen pounds to the 
square inch. 

When the finished product is poured from the com 
ter into the casting ladle, it is well to let the ebullition 
subside for a short time before running the metal into the 
moulds. This ebullition is due to the escape of carbonic 
oxide, resulting l'rom the action of the oxide of iron or ab- 
sorbed OZygen Upon the carbon. The ingOtB are better 
when the moulds are in the form of syphons; the metal is 
more condensed and without admixture of cinders, since 
the latter remain in the branch which receives the molten 
steel. These moulds are generally disposed as follows 
metallic platform is east with deep grooves radiating from 
a centre, and the grooves and the bottom of the central 
part are lined with small bricks made of fire clay. The 
moulds are of heavy cast-iron, and present the shape of 
truncated, quadrangular pyramids, the larger sections of 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 245 

which rest upon the metallic platform. Now, if we put 
one such mould over the central opening, and upon each 
outlet of the radiating grooves, the metal poured into the 
central mould will run into and fill the other moulds. 
All the cinder remains in the central mould, which, on 
this account, is a little higher than the others. When 
the steel has been sufficiently cooled off, the moulds are 
lifted by a crane. 

The metal generally remains porous, that is, filled with 
blown holes. Before rolling it into rails, bars, or plates, 
the ingots are reheated and their cavities closed by conden- 
sing the metal under a steam hammer or between rollers. 

The difficulty of making sound steel castings has always 
been very great, and many appliances have been devised 
for compressing the still fluid metal in its mould, either 
by weights or hydrostatic pressure, and even by burning 
gunpowder in closed vessels holding the moulds. 

We have seen a perfectly compact steel ingot said to 
have been fused and cast in the same vessel. We under- 
stand that the patented process consists in melting steel 
in mould-shaped crucibles which are covered air-tight, 
and, when the fusion is complete, allowing the metal to 
cool off slowly in the same crucible, which is removed 
from the fireplace and covered either with ashes or with 
a metallic hood. 

The greater proportion of the steel made by the Bessemer 
process is employed in the manufacture of rails, and a 



246 IMPROVEMENTS IX STEEL. 

large quantity for railroad tires, plates, pieces of machin- 
ery, etc. When the degree of carburization lb very low, 

the product Is often called homogeneous metal. Very little 
tool steel of the first quality is made from Bessemer steel, 
unless from the best materials of Sweden and Styria. AVe 
understand, however, that Bessemer steel scraps are - 
times remelted in pots, in England; but we know little 
about the quality of the resulting product. 

The yield of merchantable products in BesBi 
works on the continent of Europe, is about 80 per oenL, 
and Sometimes < s "> pear cent., of the raw materials used. 
The I088 by volatilization, scor iiication, and had scraps, 
amounts to about 20 per cent. We do not know how the 
yields of American manufacture compare with these, 
after deduction of the scrape. 

Notwithstanding the care taken to stop the blast at the 
proper time, and to calculate the proportion of spiegelei- 
Ben to he added, the steel produced re<piin - tobe afterwards 

classified according to its chemical composition and physi- 
cal properties. Asmall test ingot is ca.-t at about the middle 
of the pouring, and its fracture examined. After haying 
taken from it the necessary quantity of metal for the 
chemical determination of the carbon, it is hammered, 
bent, hardened, and tempered, and its tensile strength is 
now and then ascertained. All of these tests give valu- 
able information, and permit of the classification of the 
various grades of steel. 






IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL 



247 



Nearly every steel works possesses its own mode of 
classification, and we give below, as examples, the scales 
used in Sweden, in Austria (Tunner's scale), and at the 
Belgian works of Seraing, near Liege. 



SWEDISH 
NUMBBR8. 



t A 

4 
4H 



AUSTRIAN 
NUMBERS. 



PERCENTAGE 
OF CARBON. 



2.00 



1.75 
1.50 
1.25 

1.00 

0.75 
0.50 
0.25 



PROPERTIES. 



0.05 
SERAIN( 



The hardest steel, forms the limit between 
white pig metal and steel, difficult to 
forge, and does not weld. 

More malleable, but does not weld. 

Malleable, but does not weld. 

Forges well, and is quite difficult to weld. 

Hard tool steel, easily forged, and may be 
welded by a skilful workman. 

Easily forged and welded. Ordinary steel. 

Mild or soft 6teel, easily forged and welded. 

Hard granular iron or very low steel, 
with a slight hardening power. Rea- 
dily forged and welded. 

Homogeneous metal, which forges and 
welds perfectly, but does not harden. 









c 
^ 








i 

JO 


83 .a 


a, 


a - 




a § 


"3 


u 

& 


a 

3 


S3 


.2 » A 

B!o2 


S.2 

6 * 


00 


to 


1 


fc 


S* 


BuS 


g& 


3 


O 


& 




b* 


tL, 


CW 


a 




I. a 


Does not har- 
den ; may be 
welded. 


30^—35^ 


20—25 


Up to 0.35 
0.35—0.45 


Ex. soft. 
Soft. 


Guns, cannons, 
sheets, boiler 
plates, rivets, 
ropes. 

M a c h i n e r y f 


f & 


Hardens, and 










axles, tires, 


n. 


welds with 
more or less 


35}4—44 


10—20- 




Medium 
soft or 


rails. 
Tires, rails.pis- 


u 


difficulty. 




L 


0.45—0.55 


medium 
hard. 


ton rods, sur- 
faces subject- 
ed to friction. 




a 


Hardens well, 
and some- 




' 


0.55—0.65 


Hard. 


Large and me- 
dium springs, 
cutting tools, 
files, saws, 


III. J 




times does 


44-66^ 


5—10- 




Very 


bits, mining 
tools. 
Fine springs 




e 


not weld. 






0.65 & over 


hard. 


and tools, 
















spindles, etc. 



248 IMPROVEMENTS IB STEEL 



MARTIN VIH 

The Martin pr oc e ss employs essentially a mixtur 
wrought- and cast-iron for the preparation of stc*« 1, 
the operation La performed in a Siemen's gas r ative 

furnace, which all a temperatun iently g 

to melt wrtfbght-iroiL 

The apparatus is a rer ry furnace, which, on 

account of the great heat required, is built of the most 
refractory materials. In England tiny use the Dina'i 
bricks, which contain about 98 pei 
remainder being line' and other impurities, in order to 
give a certain consistency to the materia] . In Am. 
the Mount Savage bricks, of Maryland, ha 
to answer well, although the repairs A 

charging and working door is in the middl ; t he 

long sides, and the tap hole b opposite t<> it, at the l< 
part of the hearth. Each end of tie- furnace i- provi 

with tire-clay tines, which B6TVe alternately for the intro- 
duction and the escape of the pises. The furnace it- If 
is built upon a double m of chambers, filled with a 

quantity of fire-bricks set up so as to have open >paces 
for the circulation of the erases. These chat. :>rm 

the regenerative part of the system, that is to say, the 
very hot gases escaping from the working part of the 
furnace circulate in one of the chambers below, and leave 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 249 

part of their heat to the bricks contained therein. When, 
after a certain length of time, every half-hour, for in- 
stance, the direction of the gases is inverted, they, be- 
fore being admitted over the hearth, are made to circu- 
late through the heated room below, where they acquire 
a high temperature. The other regenerating chamber is 
then, in its turn, heated with the hot escaping ga 
Properly speaking, there is no heat regenerated, but part 
of the escaping heat is saved. 

The gases are generated in special kilns placed at a 
certain distance from the reverberatory furnace. These 
kilns are generally built of bricks, receive the charge of 
fuel on top, and the air is admitted through grate bar- at 
the bottom. The combustion is directed so as to produce 
only carbonic oxide, which being conveyed through pipes 
to the reverberatory furnace, is there combined with more 
air, and burns in the state of carbonic acid, thus produ- 
cing the highest temperature possible by the combustion 
of carbon with oxygen (diluted by the nitrogen of 
the air). 

The heating by gases presents several advantages : the 
saving of fuel is said to be about one-third ; the metal is 
protected from the contact of the impurities of the fuel ; 
the temperature may be rapidly and easily regulated by 
means of valves or dampers ; and the chemical action of 
the gases may be made oxidizing or reducing as desired, 



250 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

by increasing or diminishing the admixture of air. How- 
ever, when wrought-iron is to be melted, the whole heat- 
ing power of carbonic oxide is required by transforming it 
entirely into carbonic acid, and then the action of the 
gases is slightly oxidizing. 

Quite inferior fuels may be employed by this sysl 
sawdust, charcoal dust, anthracite, etc., but a semi-bitu- 
minous coal seems to give the best results, in regard to 
the amount of gases and the facility of conducting the 
operation. In this latter case, a certain proportion of 
hydro-carbon gases arc mixed with the carbonic oxide. 

The bed of the rcverberatory furnace is covered with a 
compact layer of siliceous material, which acquin 
certain consistency from the great heat produced. A oh; 
consists of about equal parts of cast- and wrought-iron, 
added in successive proportions. The greater part of the 
more fusible material, cast-irbn, is charged first, and, 
when melted, the wrought-iron is gradually added. In 
this manner, the fusion of the wrought-iron is more rapid. 
When the added material has fused, the molten ma 
stirred with an iron rable, so as to insure a thorough 
mixture. We have forgotten to state that, in order not 
to chill the metallic bath, the pieces of cast-iron, wrought- 
iron, and spiegeleisen, are previously brought up to a 
red heat in a small adjoining rcverberatory furnace, con- 
structed on the Siemen's plan, and working with gas. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 251 

Various phenomena take place : the cast-iron divides 
its carbon with the wrought-iron, part of it is also 
burned off by the slightly oxidizing action of the 
flame, and by a certain proportion of oxide of iron, which 
always accompanies the scraps or the pig-metal, or which 
has been produced during the fusion of the metals. A 
certain proportion of cinder is also formed, which may 
have a similar decarburizing action like that in the 
puddling furnace. A boil, or disengagement of carbonic 
oxide is observed in the mass. 

It would be quite as difficult to stop the operation at. a 
desired time, as it is in the manufacture of steel by the 
German process, by puddling, or in the Bessemer process 
by incomplete decarburization, although the Martin pro- 
cess is more gentle, and allows of taking samples from the 
metallic bath, and trying them on the anvil. Therefore, 
the decarburization is continued until it is practically 
complete, that is, until a sample taken shows itself red 
short. The previous samples were perfectly malleable, 
although more or less hard, according to the proportion 
of carbon, and this red shortness is due to a certain 
amount of oxidization of the molten metal, after nearly all 
the carbon has been eliminated. It now becomes necessary 
to remove this oxygen and to impart the proportion of 
carbon desired, and this is done by an addition of spiegel- 

eisen, or, in some cases, of some other kind of pure pig- 
22 



252 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

iron. Fifteen or twenty minutes after the spiegeh 

is put in, the mass is stirred, and the steel run into the 

moulds placed on a railway below the tap hole. 

The operation proper, for a charge of about thtf 
lasts, on an average, eight hours. With the time ne 
sary for repairing the siliceous bed of the fbniaoe, IPS 
may say that the whole operation requires twelve hours, 
or two operations in twenty-four hours. 

The patent covers also the decarburixation of pig-iron 
by iron ores, and steel has been made in this mai 
under difficulties whieh are hard to'overoome. Fine 
particles of ore do not sink readily to the molten metal, 
on account of the great difference in the specific gravi 
of the substances, and they remain mixed with the cinder 
above. Their action is thus slow, and resembles that of 
the fettling of the puddling furnace. Large blocks of 
sufficiently pure ore are difficult to get, but when used, 
they come in immediate contact with the molten metal, 
and their action is very energetic. But the 
drawback is that the walls and the bed of the furnace are 
rapidly corroded. 

Caron has proposed the employment of magnesia cruci- 
bles to obviate the cutting action of oxides and of the 
cinder on the ordinary smelting pots. If the results were 
found satisfactory, the same substance might be emplo 
for the lining of the earth in the Martin process. On the 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 253 

other hand, the inquiry may be made, whether, in the 
presence of the great excess of surrounding magnesia, the 
impurities would be properly fluxed and separated from 
the metal. 

We recognize in the Martin process all the requisites 
of a good preparation of steel from a good raw material. 
The product being fused, is homogeneous, the decarburi- 
zation or fining is complete, and is aided, moreover, by 
the cinder present, as in the puddling furnace, although 
to a smaller degree. The operation being more gentle 
than in the Bessemer process, there is a possibility of 
maintaining the degree of carburization of the finished 
product up to the desired point. Should the sample be- 
fore casting, show itself too hard and too rich in carbon, 
by allowing it to remain for a few minutes more in the 
furnace the difficulty will be remedied. Should the sample 
prove too poor in carbon, a few pounds more of spiegelei- 
sen may be added. All kinds of scraps of good quality 
may be used, whatever be their percentage of carbon, 
which is not the case with the Bessemer process, which 
will work anew but a limited portion of its own scraps. 
Good puddle balls and blooms may be advantageously 
employed in the Martin process. 

To sum up, we regard this latter process as complete 
in itself, and it would even be found a useful adjunct to 
Bessemer Works for utilizing and working up their 



» 



254 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

numerous scraps, such as bad ingots, rail ends, etc. The 
Martin method of making steel, like all others, requin s 
good materials for the production of a good m 

THE ACTION OF PEROXIDE OF MANGANESE AND OF 
SPIEGELEISEN. 

In the manufacture of cast-Steel in pots, there ifl nearly 
always a certain proportioD of peroxide of ma; 
added to the mixture of cast- and wrought-iron, or of 
wrought-iron and charcoal, or to the cemented steel i; 
In the Uchatiufl process of cast-iron and iron ore^ mai 
oeee oxide ua also added, if the iron ore us not already 
manganesiferoua. since the proportion ofmangai 

duced to the metallic state and alloyed with the ited M 
much smaller (and sometimes so small as to he a im-re 
trace) than that contained in the oxide used, it follows 
that the greater part of this oxide must have another 
effect than that of making an alloy. W it has not such 
an effect, its use is then a waste of material, and a ringlfl 
pinch of the substance is sufficient in each pot. But 
long practice everywhere shows that the peroxide of man- 
ganese is beneficial, and it is said to act as a regulator of 
the proportion of carbon and of silicon in steel. The 
action of this substance seems to us complex, and the 
planation we offer is put forward as a simple hypothesis. 
At the temperature at which peroxide of manganese loses 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 255 

part of its oxygen, the metals are not melted, and the 
oxygen will superficially oxidize them and burn a por- 
tion of the charcoal of the mixture. Later, when the 
metals have melted, the manganese oxide will oxidize 
the silicon, part of the carbon, and some other easily oxi- 
dizable impurities. The carbonic oxide produced stirs 
and renders the mixture homogeneous. The metallic 
manganese formed will in its turn be oxidized by the 
free oxide of iron which may be present, the latter being 
reduced to the metallic state. Lastly, the greater part 
of the manganese oxide will combine with the silica and 
other impurities of the metal, and with a certain propor- 
tion of the clay of the crucible, thus forming a fluid slag, 
which will cleanse the molten steel, and will separate 
easily from it. 

The action of spiegeleisen is also manifold. We must 
bear in mind that in the Bessemer and Martin processes 
it is added to an iron which is not only decarburized, but 
also, to a certain extent, oxidized. The carbon of the 
spiegeleisen becomes diffused within the iron, transform- 
ing it into steel, and, at the same time, reduces to the 
metallic state part of the oxidized iron, as is readily as- 
certained by the disengagement of carbonic oxide. The 
metallic manganese, if all the iron oxide were reduced by 
the carbon alone, and in the absence of blast, would form 
an alloy with the steel, whereas it is nearly all found 






256 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

in the cinders. We are therefore obliged to conclude 
that the oxide of manganese of the cinders has taken its oxy- 
gen mostly from the oxide of iron, and that the metallic 
manganese remaining in the steel and forming with it an 
alloy, is that in excess of the proportion neces>arv t 
duce the iron oxide. Another example of the reduction 
of a metallic oxide to the metallic state by Another metal 
having a superior affinity for oxygen, ifl that of litharge 
(oxide of lead) by metallic iron. 

The manufacture of boiler plates from Bessemer m< 
is difficult when ordinary spiegeleisen, relatively poor in 
manganese, and rich in carbon, is employed. If it be 

added to the oxidized iron in sufficient quantity to rest 
the malleability, the proportion of carbon remaining in 
the plate is too great. How could it be too great, if the 
carbon alone had been the reducing agenl of the oxide of 
iron? Very little carbon should remain in the metal, which, 
on the other hand, would be rich in alloyed mangai 
two conclusions contrary to the facts of the manufacture. 
Here again, we must infer that the greater part of the 
deoxidization of the iron is effected by the metallic 
manganese. 

Boiler-plates, made at Terre-noire (France), and ex- 
perimented upon in England, gave unprecedented results 
in regard to strength and malleability. They were made 
by the Bessemer process, and, with the addition of 






IMPEOVEMENTS IN STEEL. 257 

Bpiegeleisen, holding as much as 25 per cent, of man- 
ganese, a ferro-manganese as it is sometimes called. Does 
it not seem probable that the deoxidization of the iron 
was produced by the manganese, which was in such great 
excess over the proportion of carbon in the spiegeleisen 
used? 

In Sweden and Austria, where the pig-metal contains 
from 2 to 3 per cent, of manganese, a special spiegeleisen 
is not needed for infparting carbon and malleability to 
the decarburized metal. During the blast, the man- 
ganese present protects the iron from too great an oxidi- 
zation, and, as has been demonstrated by numerous 
analyses, the proportion of manganese oxide in the cin- 
ders in all the periods of the operation, is greater than 
that of the oxide of iron. When the decarburization is 
complete, there is less oxidized iron, and therefore, less 
need of a spiegeleisen with a large proportion of man- 
ganese. The same pig-iron as that which was decarbur- 
ized, is sufficient. 

It may seem strange that molten iron should be car- 
burized and oxidized at the same time. A sample of red 
short iron taken at the end of the decarburizing period 
of the Martin process, was analyzed by ourselves, and 
was found to contain nearly as much of carbon as of oxy- 
gen. The red shortness was not due to sulphur, as no 
appreciable quantity of that substance could be found, 



258 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

and as all shortness disappeared after the addition of 
spiegeleisen. The analyzed sample was also carefully 
filed, in order to remove the crust of oxide formed during 
the cooling of the metal. 

ALLOYS OF STEEL. 

Steel is essentially an alloy of iron and carbon, but it 
is nearly always accompanied by a quantity of other 

substances, the Dumber and the variety of which may 
astonish many persons. These sul»tane< B are not gener- 
ally determinedy for the reason that such scientific analy- 
se- are very expensive and cannot b ited except by 
experienced chemists, and also because the proportion* 
the foreign matters being generally very small, it is sup- 
posed that they are without material influence upon the 
quality of the metal. It is not so, however, and \w 
from the examples of Bessemer steel Bcales used in Austria, 
Sweden and Belgium, that a difference of 0.25 per cent. 
of carbon is sufficient to cause the steel to pass from one 
class into another, that is, to change the nature of its 
applications in the arts. We know well how a small 
amount of sulphur or phosphorus is sufficient to render 
the metal hot or cold short, and that a small proportion 
of copper prevents the weldability of steel and iron. One 
part of bismuth or lead in ten thousand parts of gold, 
renders the latter metal as brittle as antimony. A trace 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 259 

of carbon, sulphur, or oxygen in copper changes its mal- 
leability considerably. We might give a great many 
more similar examples; and since chemistry and the 
manufacture of alloys give so many proofs of changes of 
properties in metals by the addition of small proportions 
of other substances, we see no reason why steel should not 
follow the same rule. 

In scientific examinations of pig-irons, the following 
metals have been found alloyed with the iron and carbon : 
Silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, manganese, alumi- 
nium, chromium, copper, antimony, nickel, cobalt, tita- 
nium, molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, magnesium, 
calcium, potassium, sodium, etc. A single analysis of 
pig-metal demonstrates the presence of sixteen of the 
above-named substances. During the transformation of 
the metal into wrought-iron, the easily oxidized sub- 
stances are removed partly or entirely; for instance, 
calcium, magnesium, manganese, etc. Copper is not so 
easily oxidized, and remains in the metal. Aluminium, 
which has a great affinity for iron, remains in greater 
part combined with it. We see, therefore, that nearly 
all the foreign bodies of -the pig-metal remain in the 
wrought-iron, although their proportion is rendered 
smaller. The conversion of wrought-iron into steel does 
not separate many of the foreign substances, although it 
has been advanced on some reasonable grounds that the 



260 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

cementation process has a tendency to remove sulphur, 
phosphorus and arsenic. But we need more reliable 
comparative analyses to arrive at a certainly on this 
subject. 

That some of the foreign metals will improve the qual- 
ity of the steel in hardness, or malleability, or tenacity, 
or in grain, seems pretty certain. Brass, which i 
tially a compound of copper and zinc, is considerably 
Improved by a small addition of lead, not only in ordi- 
nary castings, hut also for rolled sheets; in bb 
lead, by producing greater homogeneousnees, giv< 
better grain, more hardness, and greater malleability. 
The proportions of the foreign substances may be v;i 

to arrive at different results, in the same manner a- less 
lead is put in rolling hrass than in hrass casting! lor the 
turner. The best steel ifl that which i- best adapted to 
its particular purpose. We do not expect or desire the 
same malleability in a hard tool >teel, a graver for in- 
stance, as in a steel boiler plate. The hardness and 
malleability of steel may be varied, indeed, by mon 

carbon. But we believe that a greater homogeneous- 
ness will be imparted to the steel by one or more other 
metals appropriately chosen and in proper proportions. 
Steel is already a sufficiently complex compound, witn 
for instance, the formidable array of foreign metals found 
in it, and given above. The difficulty is to know which 






IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 261 

of these metals are beneficial, and in what manner, so as 
to make them preponderate over the others. It is a very 
hard question to decide with the little knowledge on the 
subject which exists at the present time. It will require 
scientific chemical examination, checked by accurate 
mechanical tests of malleability, hardness and tenacity, 
to arrive at results which can be trusted. 

We do not agree with Overman, when he states, page 
217, that arsenic, phosphorus, sulphur and silicon are 
necessary in steel, that is, in the ordinary applications of 
that metal. But in special uses of ornamentation, for 
instance, where tenacity is a secondary object, and fine- 
ness of grain and sharpness of casting are all important, 
phosphorus, sulphur, etc., may do well. Indeed, certain 
qualities of pig-metal, highly charged with phosphorus, 
are employed for fine castings, which must be sharp, and 
are not expected to bear severe strains. 

It seems that tungsten, titanium, chromium, vanadium, 
etc., have a beneficial effect on steel within certain limits. 
They harden it without destroying its malleability and 
weldability. All the experiments of Stodart, Faraday, 
Berzelius, Stromeyer, Clouet, Breant, Berthier and others 
demonstrate that all the different metals alloyed with 
steel increase its hardness. We find that this fact ac- 
counts for the difficulty encountered in the adoption by 
Bessemer Steel Works of a uniform scale of hardness 



262 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

based on the percentage of carbon. If we examine the 
scales adopted in Sweden, Austria and Belgium, w< 
that in the two former countries, where the raw metal hi 
of the same purity, they agree in the fact that the same 
ccntage of carbon separates one class of steel from 
another. If we compare tie dee with the 1 

one, we remark that the steels of the latter cease to weld 
with a lower per oentage of carboo than do the former. 

The practical hardness of the steels for the various i 
in the arts is about the same in these countries; but. in 
the one case, the hardness La due to carbon alone, and in 
the other, to carbon and to foreign substances. Ind< 
the materials used in Belgium for the manufactur. 
steel are not so pure as those employed in Austria and 
Sweden. Therefore, for a given hardness in p 
use, the more impure the steel, the less carbon it requ 
— and the ^voidability will cease with less carbon for iron 
alloyed with other metals, than for those relatively pujer. 
Another example may be given of how little we know 
about the influence of other metals on steel. The snl 
is manganese, \rhich may be said to be of universal u 
in the manufacture of steel. A manufacturer of steel, of 
evidently great practical knowledge, writes that he 
treated steel alloyed with manganese, which was so mal- 
leable that it was unctuous under the hammer. Another 
writer, known for his knowledge and accuracy, Captain 



> »* 



IMPROVEMENTS I N STEEL. 263 

Caron, states that manganese renders steel brittle. Xow, 
with all regard for the veracity of the first experimenter, 
we suspect that he brings forward one of those incontro- 
vertible " hard facts," as some practical men call them, 
which require a little looking after. Our experi- 
menter, who was also the manufacturer of the sted i 
that that steel must have contained three times more 
manganese than of carbon, in which case it is a kind of 
spiegeleisen. As the per centage of manganese was 
rniined from the bar experimented upon, but sur- 
mised from the mixture put in the pot, it may very well 
happen that the steel produced contained very little or 
no manganese at all, as often occurs. Xeverth 
more light is required on the subject from different and 
reliable parti' 

STEEL OK 

Certain kinds of iron ores are said to produce steel 
irally. We do not see how they can succeed in doing 
so without some help, inasmuch as they produce also the 
purest and softest kinds of wrought-iron. Putting aside 
all preposterous notions that they contain within them 
some unknown phlogistic medium, which will transform 
them naturally into steel, we will acknowledge that these 
ores are very pure : that is to say. free from obnoxious 
elements, or combined with some beneficial ones. Careful 
23 



2G4 IMPROVEMENTS IS STEEL. 

chemical examination will determine pretty well wh< 
an ore will make a good steel or not. Incorrect con- 
clusions have often been jumped at from incomplete or 
careless examinations of ores. Such work must be made 
in a thorough and reliable manner. What certitude can 
we have of the real nature of an iron ore, if we know 
only its per centage in metal, as is so often tie 
Besides the complete knowledge of the ore employed, we 

should not forget cither that the fluxes, the fuels, and the 
mode of Working have an important influence in the na- 
ture of the metal obtained 

Then- seems to he a prevailing opinion among many 
iron men thai red hematites are tie 1 only iron ores which 
will give a pig-metal suitable tor the manufacture of 
Bessemer steel. This belief probably arises from the 
tad that these ores are quite exclusively used lor that 
purpose in England. The countries which produce an 
article of Bessemer steel superior to that manufactured 
in England and America, use other ores. Sweden em- 
ploys magnetites ; Austria its abundant deposits of spathic 
irons; and certain works of France smelt pure magn 
ores imported from Sardinia and Algeria. So much for 
red hematites being the only suitable ores. Red hema- 
tites, or any kind of iron ores, whatever be their state of 
oxidization, will produce a good steel if they are free 
from obnoxious bodies, and not poisoned afterwards by 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 2G5 

impurities in the fluxes and fuels, or by a wrong mode of 
smelting them. In Styria and Sweden, the ores are most 
carefully sorted and roasted, and then smelted in com- 
paratively small blast furnaces, working with charcoal. 
The modern blast furnace, with its huge dimensions, is 
certainly advantageous in lowering the cost of production, 
but the extreme and protracted heat to which the ores 
and fluxes are exposed causes the reduction to the metal- 
lic state of many substances which become alloyed with 
the pig-metal, and we have seen their great influence on 
the quality of the steel. 

The United States contain large deposits of ores 
adapted to the manufacture of steel, in Missouri, in the 
region of Lake Superior, and in the States of North Caro- 
lina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. To our know- 
ledge, the ores of North Carolina, by their extent, nature, 
purity and composition, strongly resemble those of Sweden 
and Norway. 

THE APOTHECARY SHOP OF STEEL MANUFACTURE. 

Phosphorus and sulphur are the greatest sicknesses to 
which steel, wrought and cast-iron are submitted. Their 
treatment has been attempted several times with drugs and 
chemicals, applied in very small or in quite large doses. 

Some have attempted to volatilize the sulphur and 
phosphorus by adding infinitesimal proportions of the 



266 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

chlorides, bromides and iodides of sodium or potassium, 
under the supposition that the volatile compounds of sul- 
phur and phosphorus with iodine, bromine, ould he 
formed. This transformation, under the rircumstai 
of the work, is not certain, and the really useful pari 
the alkaline salt used ifl its base, which combines with the 
impurities, and retains them in the cinder. Another pro- 
poses the addition of minute proportions of the precious 
metals, etc., etc. 

Passing now to the BerioUfl part of the work, \ that 

chloride of sodium (common salt), chloride of calcium, 
nitrate of soda, etc, in sufficient quantities, have been tried 
with more or less success. Borne of these substancei art- in- 
tended to have an oxidizing action by their volatile part, 
and, at the same time, their base ifl to combine with the 
sulphuric and phosphoric acids, which are thus separated 
from the metal. [nteresting NSUltS have been obtained, 
especially with the employment of nitrate of soda, and 
it has been found possible to remove the greater part 
of the phosphorus from impure pig-iron. Bui the com ba 
too great, and, at the present time, we hear little about 
these experiments. Not only are the infinitesimal d 
of no avail whatever, but the neutralizing substa: 
must be employed in greater proportions than is necessary 
for combination with the impurities, because the silica of 
the cinders and of the hearth will absorb a great quan- 



IMPROVEMENTS IX STEEL. 267 

tity of the base of the salt, and prevent its action upon 
the phosphoric acid, for instance. Although we consider 
the method of purification of iron by drugs and chemicals 
as too expensive at the present time, we believe that the 
best mode of operation will be to inject the finely pow- 
dered materials with the blast through the tuyeres of a 
cupola, for instance. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Under this head we give several extracts, taken from 
the Iron Age and from other sources, and which are 
complementary to what is already to be found in Over- 
man's work on the nature and properties of steel, and the 
manner of working it. 

The absolute tenacity of steel decreases in a certain 
ratio with the increase of the proportion of carbon, and 
the elongation before breaking is greater as the proportion 
of carbon is less. 

Steel increases in volume by hardening. If the article 
be of a prismatic shape, a bar for instance, the increase in 
dimensions is on the thickness and width, whereas the 
length has diminished. 

Every kind of steel requires to be treated in its own 
manner, which is often the cause that the most skilful 
workman rejects a good material to which he has not 
been accustomed. Those kinds which are poor in carbon, 



268 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

as well as the soft and ordinary ones, require a higher 
temperature before cooling than those richer in carbon. 
Besides, steel is the more easily hardened the more it has 
been condensed by hammering, and the finer its grain 
has become. If it is to possess more haxdnesB than elas- 
ticity, it must be heated to a higher temperature and 
cooled quicker than if the opposite qualities are desired. 
Tools of unequal thicknesses have their thicker end put 
in the fire first The coals must glow well, and ought 
burn without Same or sparks, in order thai the workmen 

may readily observe the heal of the steel, and may sur- 
round it uniformly, BO that it be not exposed directly to 

the blast. 

If only certain parts of a piece arc to be hardened, and 
if others are to remain soft* the latter are often COttted 
with clay, so that they may he less exposed to the heat, 
and may not come into intimate contact with the harden- 
ing liquid. 

Files are generally immersed in a solution of salt, 
thickened with flour or yeast, and are placed in the fire 
after the coating has dried. 

In order to produce a uniform heat, metallic baths, 
especially glowing, liquid lead, have been recommended. 
For small articles, such as razors (according to Chester- 
field in Sheffield), one may use a bath of salt, calcined 
soda, chloride of zinc, and other neutral mineral salts 
heated to redness. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 269 

By cooling steel in boiling water, no remarkable har- 
dening takes place, although peculiar molecular changes 
may otherwise be produced. 

A hardening liquid composed of 1 part of oil of vitriol 
to 30 or 40 parts of water, was regarded as a great secret 
by English file cutters. Such a bath possesses a cleansing 
action, by dissolving the oxidized parts. Old files are 
said to be sharpened to a certain extent by immersing 
them, without heating, in a similar bath. 

If, aside from hardness, the steel is to attain as much 
elasticity as possible, less cold water should be employed, 
and its power of conducting heat ought to be lessened by 
certain additions, such as small quantities of soap (satu- 
rated soap water is said not to harden at all), slimy sub- 
stances, charcoal dust moistened with water, etc. 

In Switzerland, according to A. Kieser, cast-steel for 
cutting tools is hardened in a remarkably excellent man- 
ner by dipping it, in a dark-red condition, into a mixture 
of four parts yellow rosin, two parts train oil, and one 
part molten tallow, after which it is again placed in the 
fire without cleaning and then cooled in water. 

Long pieces which are not flat, as for instance, files, 
must be immersed in the direction of their longitudinal 
axes, and then moved about in the water with a certain 
rapidity. Flat and thin articles are to be immersed with 
their thinner edge. If the objects, as knives and sword 



270 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

blades, possess a wedge-shaped form, they are generally 
inserted with their thicker end, which cool- off more 
slowly than the thin one. However, the opposite method 
may be recommendablc, namely : in cases where the ( 
is made of another material than the back, and when 
fatty substances are being used for cooling. 

It is very important to immerse the entire glowing part 
of the articles in the hardening water, or to inn); 
them completely, according to circnm -. otherwise 

there may be flaw- on the waterdinc. Large oh; 

Bhould not be withdrawn until they are completely cooled. 

Since Haws are produced h 38 easily when the cooling 

is performed in fatty substances instead of water, the 
water is often covered with a layer of oil or fat, through 
which the steel has to pass before it reaches the water. 
Most articles of irregular form are liable to warp, for 

instance, hollow chisels, halt-round files, etc., or such as 
consist of wrought -iron plated with steel on one side. In 
these cases, the steel ride easily gets crooked; hence it is 
necessary to immerse the object in a particular manner, 
and to move it about in the liquid in a special way. It 
may also be well to bend it in the opposite way during 
forging, so that it may become straight in hardening. 
Articles of very unequal dimensions, such as eccentric 
rings, are lined with a piece of iron at the thinner phi 
so that they may be uniformly heated and cooled. Small 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 271 

articles that are also long, and would therefore warp 
easily, are packed in fagots by means of wire, and thus 
heated and cooled. Flat articles may be retained in 
shape by pressing and cooling them between iron plates. 
There is one condition to be fulfilled, which is of essen- 
tial influence for the process of hardening, namely, the 
previous working of the steel. If the surface thereby 
produced be denser in one place than in another, one 
may be certain that it will warp in hardening ; hence not 
less depends upon the dexterity of the blacksmith than 
upon the workman who performs the operation in ques- 
tion. Since, in certain patterns, an unequal density can- 
not be avoided, the article should be brought to a low 
red heat before being hardened, and if it has become 
bent, it should be straightened out. Large articles should 
first be hammered out well on the surface, so that this 
latter may become denser. With steel rollers this may 
be done by adjusting them in a frame, and by allowing 
steel bars to pass through them under heavy pressure. 

According to the experience of Ede, in the arsenal at 
Woolwich, steel with a brilliant metallic surface is more 
readily exposed to flaws than steel with a thin skin of 
oxide. 

For surface hardening, H. Vaughn immerses wrought- 
iron articles in a glowing liquid bath of 25 parts prussiate 
of potassa, 65 parts common salt, and 10 parts bichromate 



272 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

of potassa, to which powdered horn or animal charcoal 
has been added. The articles are hardened in water. 
For steel, he uses a bath consisting of 4 parts prussiate of 
potassa, 12 common salt, and 2 bichromate of pot 
For polished steel, which would otherwise be injured, he 
replaces the bichromate of potassa partly <>r wholly by 
an equal quantity of a mixture for hardening files, which, 
according to Dittmarr, is composed of 1<> parts char 
obtained by carbonizing waste from hoofs, horn, 

leather, 2 of OVen BOOt, and 1 part of common salt. Frmn 

this a paste is made by the addition of Borne day, water, 
vinegar or beer yeast The files are covered with this 
paste, then dried in warm air, heated to a cherry red, and 

hardened in a solution of salt. They are then pickled in 
diluted oil of vitriol, rinsed in lime and pure Wl 
brushed and oiled, after having been dried in hot air. 
Eckmann Bays that steel acquires a very hard surface it' 
the hardening powder be mixed with a solution of s 
nious acid in muriatic acid, as then, by heating, a bril- 
liant white layer of an alloy of iron and arsenic is formed, 
which is not liable to rust. 

Wrought and cast-iron may be hardened, according to 
Johnson, if immersed hot for a few minutes in a bath of 
50 parts fat, 50 oil, 35 charcoal, 25 yellow prussiate of 
potassa, 33 horn, and 30 nitrate of potassa. Karmarsch 
mentions that the points and edges of tools (pointed ham- 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 278 

mers, etc.) may be hardened by sticking them for a mo- 
ment, when bright red, into a paste of 1 part prussiate of 
potassa, 1 part potassa, 2 green soap, 2 lard or tallow, 
and then cooling them in water. 

Another recipe, w r hich, however, was known to Agricola 
(1561), prescribes the dipping of the welding hot wrought- 
iron into molten pig-metal, a few moments being sufficient 
to produce a cementation of the thickness of a line (1-1 2th 
inch). 

In consequence of a great and protracted heat, case- 
hardened articles assume a coarse crystalline texture, and 
then get brittle. This change, according to Carre, can 
be obviated entirely if the articles, when withdrawn from 
the cementation boxes, are heated as quickly as possible 
to the highest temperature which they attained by cemen- 
tation, and then allowed to cool in the air. The harden- 
ing is afterwards accomplished in the ordinary manner. 

Crude steel and steel of cementation weld easier than 
cast-steel which is prepared from the former by remelting, 
although this latter has rather undergone a diminution 
than an increase in the amount of carbon. Cast-steel 
gains in weldability, when made to glow for some time 
excluded from the air, and then allowed to cool slowly, 
whereby, as w w T ell known, a partial separation of chemi- 
cally combined carbon takes place. 

In welding steel and wrought-iron, the latter is first 



274 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

placed in the fire, or both are he; xirately. The 

Steel must be brought up to the pro] perat ureas 

rapidly as possible and excluded from the air; it is best 
done with charcoal and good coke, since coals, on account 
of the bet that they contain sulphur, produce a thin 

r of sulphide or sulphate of iron, which pi 
proper welding. 

As i welding mixture, Th. Etusl reoommendi 41.5 
parts of boracic acid, 3.5 common salt, lo 

potassa, and .s ealcin i ash. 

Ilahich prescribe- 7 parts of anhydrous p 

potassa, 2 calcined soda ash, and more or h >< l)iirncd 

borax, according to the nature of th*- steeL Ekmef 
□amende to dissolve in watri-s par k, l >al- 

aminoniac, 1 yellow ])russiatc of potassa, and to evap< 

the solution at a low heat to dryness. Wli ugly 

heated, violent explosions may occur by A ation of 

chloride of nitrogen. Another method i> as foil. 
Borax is fused with L-10th of its I ofsal-ammoi 

and to the vitreous mass the same quantity of btu 
lime is added. Still another employs 8 parts of heavy 
spar, 1 part of gall of glass, and 1 of black oxide of man- 
ga n< 

In welding, at first, light, then heavy blow- an 
so that the slag may escape from the joints, w h ere u pon 
the outer surfaces are united. 






IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 275 

Since hard steel is tempered (after hardening) sooner 
than soft, and the latter sooner than iron, the various 
kinds of steel do not always exhibit the same degree of 
hardness, although they may show the same tempering 
colors. There appear small differences, inasmuch as a 
brand cooled at a bright yellow heat may become as hard 
as one cooled when of a straw yellow color ; or another 
one may get as hard when violet as one that has been 
dark blue. In some cases, especially when a particular 
hardness is required, as is desirable for the edges of astro- 
nomical and philosophical instruments, and when the steel 
is rich in carbon, it may be proper to conduct the tempering 
at such a low temperature that no colors appear at all. 
And in order that the operator should not be subject to 
delusion in observing the change referred to, the steel 
should have a shining, and sometimes polished, surface, 
and be uniformly heated. 

Since the colors owe their appearance to the formation 
of an exceedingly thin superficial skin of oxide, it is evi 
dent that the steel, when withdrawn from the fire, does 
not retain its first color, but there appear other colors in 
consequence of a subsequent oxidation by the air, until 
the steel is sufficiently cool. Of a certain color, one can 
only judge with certainty by examining the conditions 
under which it occurs. If two pieces of the same steel 
are heated until the yellow color appears, and if one is 
24 



276 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

withdrawn, it may become in the air purple, violet, and 
finally blue, while the other piece assumes the - »lors 

in the fire. However, if both pieces when blue are 
dipped into water, they acquire different degrees of hard* 
QCSS, that is, the one which turned blue in the air will be 
harder than the one left in the fire. Hence it follows 
that proper caution inusl be observed in this respect, and 
steel must either be cooled rapidly, when the right color 
appean in the lire, or it must be withdrawn at a pre- 
ceding color, if the desired shade is to appear after 
tempering. 

In tempering scythes and similar tools, they are stuck 
in a layer of hot sand or hammer slag, spread on a heated 
plate, and sometimes only the hot sand is spread I 
them. For sword blades, for instance, the thicker parti 
are heated by a red-hot piece of cast-iron having the 
proper shape; and if the edges are to be harder than 
the other parts, they may he rubbed with a potato or 
beet. 

Parkes has proposed the following alloys for tempering 
baths. They are suitable in some particular and 

their temperature should be maintained near the melting 
point, without over heating : 



IMPKOVEMENTS IN STEEL. 



277 



Alio] 


r s in 




parts of 






Melting 
point F.° 


Lead. 


Tin. 


7 


4 


430° 


IV, 


4 


440° 


8 


4 


451° 


8V4 


4 


460° 


10 


4 


480° 


14 


4 


500° 


19 


4 


520° 


30 


4 


540° 


48 


4 


5G0° 


Boiling 


; Lin- 




seec 


oil. 


600° 


Mel tin 


g Lead. 


625° 



Tempering 
Color. 



Light yellow. 
Straw yellow. 
Oat yellow. 
Gold yellow. 
Purple red. 
Pigeon throat. 
Pigeon throat. 
Violet. 
Copper red. 

Dark blue. 
Water. 



Applicable for. 



Lancets. 

Other chirurgical instruments. 

Razors. 

Penknives, gravers, etc. 

Larger knives, scalpels, etc. 

Scissors, cold chisels, etc. 

Axes, plane irons, pocket knives. 

Table knives, large scissors. 

Sword blades, watch springs. 

Saw blades and some kinds of springs. 
Articles a little softer than above. 



The fracture of hammered or tilted steel is often oblique, 
angular and rugged, and the broken surface presents a 
quantity of small and sharp points. On the other hand, 
the fracture of rolled steel is more even and the grains 
are rather rounded in shape. 

Of two kinds of cast steel possessing the same hardness 
and the same fineness of grain, the purer is the more 
malleable, and the difference is the more appreciable as 
the percentage of carbon is greater. 

Steel articles which have warped during annealing, 
had better be slightly heated for the straightening pro- 
cess which precedes hardening. The proper temperature 
is that which allows of handling the articles with a thick 
leather glove. 

Steel should be brought up rapidly to the desired tem- 
perature, because a slow and protracted heat changes its 
molecular structure, and diminishes its tenacity and mal- 
leability. 



'278 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEEL. 

Screw and key files, cut at the e lily, ami other 

thin and flat articles, should be filed or ground length- 
wise before hardening, in order to diminish break 
The furrows produced bycroa filing or grinding cause 
many breaks during the hardening process. 

When, for nearly finished article-, somewhat out of 

shape, the iron hammer cannot be employed, they are 

straightened upon a wooden block with wooden mallets. 
In this case, the steel must be heated until it acquires a 
blue, violet, or pigeon-throat color, otherwise, by the har- 
dening process, it will resume its previous deformed shape. 

A thin paste with water, of 75 part- of fine \ 
and 25 of fat clay without -and, and applied nol 

thickly with a brush upon steel, is a good protection 
against the action of the fire, and does nol change the 

nature of the metal. 

Scythes arc hardened in hot, and sometimes boiling, 

baths of tallow mixed with a small proportion of roSUL 

When steel is hardened by dipping it into mercury, 

grain becomes finer than when any other cooling com- 
pound is employed. 

Steel does not require tempering when, as by watch- 
makers, it is hardened by pressing it into a block of cold 
lead. 

Steel blades which become curved by hardening, are 
straightened cold with hammers, the striking surface of 



IMPROVEMENTS IX STEEL. 279 

which forms an obtuse angle. The blow is given on the 
concave part, in order to lengthen the fibres on that side. 
Even then it is preferable to heat the articles slightly, 
and to cool them in water immediately after the defect 
has been remedied. 



The census tables show that the money value of all 
the products of steel manufactured in the United States 
was 

In 1850 S 172,080 

1860 1,778,240 

1870 9,609,986 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Action of manganese and spiegel- 

eisen 254 

Admixtures in iron 155 

Agricola on hardening 273 

Air furnaces, form of 178 

Alloys 203 

Alloys, hardness of. 205 

Alloys of Parkes 276 

Alloys of steel 176, 258 

Alloys, uses of 261 

Aluminium in steel 259 

American steel 145 

Analysis of iron 156 

Analyses of steel 259 

Annealing 57, 62 

Annealing of steel 207 

Anthracite 178 

Anthracite, forge for 19 

Anvil 22 

Anvil for hammers 88 

Anvil-log • 89 

Apothecary shop of steel making.... 265 

Appendix 200 

Atoms of combination 219 



Bars 168 

Bars, selection of converted 176 

Bath of mercury 278 

Baths for hardening 268 

Baths, metallic 268 

Bessemer process 235 

Blades, Damascus 75 

Blades of Solingen 78 

Blast, the 84, 239, 244 

Blistered steel 40, 120, 129, 153, 184 

Blisters 172 

Blue-ovens 81 



PAGE 

Boiling 108 

Boiling iron 158 

Boilerplates 256 

Borax as a flux 33 

Borax for case hardening 69 

Boxes, cementing 124 

Boxes, charging the 125 

Boxes, converting 162 

Brass 260 

Breakage 59 

Breakage, how to avoid 278 

Bricks for furnaces 248 

Butt joint - 37 

Cake 110 

Camphor for case hardening 69 

Cams 92 

Carbon added to wrought iron 232 

Carbon and iron 217, 218 

Carbon in steel 228 

Carbon necessary for steel 151 

Care with the iron 167 

Caron on manganese 263 

Caron's plan 252 

Case hardening 67 

Cast house, the 139 

Casting 143 

Cast iron, conversion into steel 151 

Cast iron, welding to steel 45 

Cast iron, white 159 

Cast steel 42, 135, 173 

Cast steel, fine 183 

Cause of colors in steel 189 

Cement 126, 160 

Cementation, degree of 123 

Cementing boxes 124 

Census of steel 279 

281 



282 



INDEX 



PAOI 

Chabote 89 

Characteristics of good steel 47 

Characteristics of at- 

Charcoal l.M. [• , IT I 

Chat 

Charging ■ Mail furnace 

f Matt furnace 

Charging of the boxes 

Chea] wary 

Chest, converting... 

\M of OODTeittng furnace \-\ 

Chests, matariali f>r 

Clay as a llux 

Clay for ca.se hardening.. ... 00 

. 171 

bard, forge foe 

doD of id 

. IT. 
for furn;w .-.. Ill 

Ooloi 

temperini 64 

f\.|..r> in t' in] 

Ooloi 

Combining onmben 

( lomiHwInn. b .61 

Condition "f hardenl 

c-mvi irsion, expense of 

Converted bin, Mleolloii of 

Converting furnace l-i 

Converter, the 
Convertls 

( looling "t steel 

Copper in steel 

Orndblei 

Crndblei of magnet 

Crade iron ... 161 

Carving 

Cutlery, hanl' 

Dsmascns blades 78 

Damascus itoel . I \~ 

irtrarising 

i> gree of cementation 198 

Degrees of heat for : 1 1 

1 

Dimensions of hearth 

Dim's bricks Mfl 

Difflcnltiee In making Oerman steel. L4B 

Difflcnltiee La making steel 168 

Double furnaces IT'.' 

Bde, experienoe of 

Elasticity of iteel 

Elemental for steel 149 

Elements in constitution of steel 217 

England, steel made in 120 



Expat 

b 178 

1 12 

riments in steel making 1*1 

I [mental with alloys 

Faces of hannn 

Kailu 

Fibrous iron 



fining 

•ri-k 

117, 130 
« furnace. 

Kiwi 
Flux 

99 
CM tobeav..i.l.-.| 

-. jh .rt.iM 

ing 

ir furnaoi - 

- 

I of iron.. 

1 

Fuel 171 

Fuel f,,r steeL 

rneh 

Pnrnaoea, air, form 

rnrnaoea, converting i_i 

Furnaces, doable 

Furnace*, firing "f 

Fur:. 

Furnace, reg en eratfr 

Fun 
Fusibility of st 

141 

in Weight of Steel 

Genial 140 

German iteel 71,81, 148,184. 

German method . 113 

General remarks on making steel... i47 

Glass powder 180 



INDEX 



283 



PAGE 

Good iron for conversion 155 

Grain of steel 194 

Grate 162 

Hammers 27 

Hammers, faces of. 88 

Hammers, tilt 133 

Hard coal, forge for.... 19 

Hardening by compression 61 

Hardening case 67 

Hardening, cutlery 55 

Hardening, effects of 48 

Hardening files 54 

Hardening needles 55 

Hardening of steel 46, 207 

Hardening of tools 268 

Hardness of alloys 205 

Hardness of steel 183 

Hearth 103 

Hearth stones 152 

Heat, closing of a ,.. 172 

Heat for forging 13 

Heat in steel making 101 

Heating 277 

Heating by gases 248 

Hematites 264 

Homogeneous metal 233 

Hot air tuyeres 17 

Hot blast to be avoided 151 

Hypothesis on steel making 212 

Indian cast steel 72 

Ingot making 244 

Important elements for steel 149 

Improvements in steel 227 

Iron, admixtures in 155 

Iron, analysis of 156 

Iron, form of 107 

Iron, good, for conversion 155 

Iron, making, for conversion 157 

Iron, silex in 156 

Iron, silicon in 156 

Iron, size of 168 

Iron, Swedish 120 

Johnson on hardening 272 

Joints in welding 35 

Judgment required 171 

Lampblack in cement 160 

Length of exposure of pots 181 

Magnesia crucibles 252 

Magnetic ore 156 

Magnetic ores 224 

Magnetites 264 

Magnetism of steel 199 



PAGE 

Making blistered steel 153 

Making cast steel 135 

Making iron for conversion 157 

Making of crucibles 136 

Making steel 95, 101 

Making steel in puddling furnace... 115 

Making steel, remarks on 147 

Manufacture of steel 

Manganese 177, 263 

Manganese, action of 254 

Manganese as a flux 152 

Manganese in steel 233 

Manipulation for steel 105 

Martin process • 248 

Materials for chests 165 

Materials for pots 179 

Mercury bath 278 

Metal, homogeneous 233 

Metallic baths - - 

Metals alloyed with iron 259 

Metals injurious in iron 241 

Melting pots 136 

Methods, German 113 

Methods of manufacture 228 

Mirror iron 239 

Money value of steel 279 

Mould, the 144 

Mt. Savage bricks 248 

Natural steel 81 

Nature of steel 183 

Needles, hardening of. 55 

New box, use of a 167 

Ore for German steel 148 

Ore for steel 210 

Ore, important for steel 149 

Ore, specular 150 

Ores for steel 263 

Ore, magnetic 156, 224 

Ores, steel 263 

Overheating 14 

Parke's alloys. 276 

Parry's process 231 

Peace, steel for 147 

Pennsylvania steel 225 

Persian blades 77 

Phenomena in steel making 251 

Phosphorus in iron 241 

Pig-iron 100 

Pillars for hammers 89 

Plates, boiler 256 

Portable forges 21 

Potash as a flux 34 

Pot covers 181 

Pots 179 



284 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Pots, melting: 

Process of Bessemer 

Process of Martin 

Process of Parry - ; l 

Process of [JchatUu 

Prussiate of potassa for case harden- 
ing 

Puddled steel 

Puddling furnace 116 

Pure iron 166 

Pure ore for steel 161 

Quality of steel test of 

Quick case hardening 



Kails, steel 

Rapid tiring 

Rationale of refrigeration of steel .. 

Refining fires ht, 

Refining of steel 

Refrigerating tin ids 

Refrigeration of steel 

Regenerative furnace 

i;. marks on making steel 

Requisites <>t llessemer pig-iron 

Reverberatory turnai 

Reveiberatory furnace tor s teal 

Rotary blacksmith's tuyere 

RustS* V/elulng mixture 

Sal ammoniac as a Buz 

Salt for ease hardening 

Salt in haidening 

Band as a flux 

Sam! bath 

Saw blades 

Scales of steel 

Scarf joint 

Bcoriflcation 

Scythes hardened 

Selection of converted bare 

Beraing's scale 

Shaft for tilt hammer 

Shear hammer 

Shear steel 42,132, 160, 182, 

Shrinkage 

Silicon.. 

Silicon and iron 213, 214, 

Silicon in iron 156, 

Silex 



Silex in iron 

Silver steel 

Size of furnace 

Size of iron 

Skill in analysis of iron. 
Solingen blades 



•jr. 
170 

116 

58 

188 
248 

n: 
•j n 
248 
178 

IT 

m 

:;i 
876 

JIT 

40 

278 

it«; 

JIT 

133 
hi 

59 
221 
215 
241 
221 
l.-,.; 
176 
169 
168 
156 

78 



PAGE 

Sound ol steel - 

Spathic ores 

dloys 

Specific gravitj 

Spectroscope 

ilar on- 

I of tilt hammer 

geleisen 

ti"ii of. 

Split joint 

Spring steel 

Steel slloys 

Bteel, alloys of 

Steel, annealing of 

American 

Steel, blistered . L84 



Steel, chancteiistfc i of L91 

Steel, • oh 

Steel, colon of 

conversion of cast iron into... \\\ 
Steel, Dam 



Steel direct from or. 

•i. -ii v of 196 

st < t ■ i |br sreapons i it 

Steel from vrroughl Iron 

Steel, fusibility of 

Steel, fusion of l n 

Steel, genera] remarks on miking... ltT 

Steel, German Ti. Bl, 148, 184 

Bteel, grain of i'i 

Steel, hardness of 

Steel, hardening of 

Steel, improvements In 

st<'i made in England 

Bteel, magnetism of 

Steel, making 96, 101 

Steel, making in puddling furnace.. 116 
Steel, natural Bl 

Steel, nature of 

Steel of Pennsylvania 

Steel 

Bteel, ore for 210 

Bteel, puddled 

Bteel mils 246 

Bteel, refining of 116 

Bteel, refrigeration of l M 

Steel, shear 182, 184 

steel, Bound of. 196 

Steel, specific gmvityof 191 

Bteel, tenacity of 

Steel, texture of. 194 

Bteel, tilting of 178, 189 

Steel, varieties of Tl 

Steel, welding properties of 198 



INDEX 



285 



PAGE 

Steel, welding to cast iron 45 

Steel, what is it? 200, 217, 227 

Straightening 277 

Stourbridge clay 136 

Superiority of steel 50 

Swedish iron 120, 222 

Tap holes 128 

Tap-ring 92 

Tenacity of steel 267 

Tempering 59,62,188, 278 

Test of steel 50 

Test of quality of steel 46 

Texture of steel. 194 

Theories in regard to steel 200 

Tilting 130, 134 

Tilting of steel 173, 182 

Tilts 85, 133 

Tue iron, the 16 

Tobacco in cement 160 

Tongs 26 

Tools, forge 26 

Tools, how hardened 268 

Trial bars 171 

Trial rods 128 

Tuyere, the 16, 103 

Tuyeres, the 238 



PAGE 

TJchatius' process 230 

Uses of alloys 261 

Varieties of steel 71 

Various methods of making steel.... 228 

Vaughn's hardening baths 271 

Warping 277 

War, steel for 147 

Water for tilt hammer 93 

Weapons, steel for 147 

Weight, gain in, of steel 129 

WeldiDg 35, 274 

Welding properties 198 

Welding steel 42 

Welding steel to cast iron 45 

Welding wootz 44 

Wheel for tilt hammer 93 

" Wheelswarf." 126 

White cast iron 159 

Wipers 92 

Wire draw plates 39 

Wolfs 81 

Wootz 72,147, 221 

Wootz, welding of. 44 

Working a converting furnace 127 

Wrought iron steel 232 



CATALOGUE 

OF 

PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED BY 

HENRY CAREY BAIRD, 

INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHER, 
ISTo- 406 -W^-IuIsr-CrT STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



Any of the Books comprised in this Catalogue will be sent by mail, 
free of postage, at the publication price. 

JtJ 3 ^ Y New and Enlarged Catalogue, 95 pages Svo., with full descriptions 
of Books, will be sent, free of postage, to any one who will favor m* 
with his address. 



ARMENGAUD, AMOUROUX, AND JOHNSON.— THE PRACTICAL 
DRAUGHTSMAN'S BOOK OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, AND 
MACHINIST'S AND ENGINEER'S DRAWING COMPANION: 

Forming a complete course of Mechanical Engineering and 
Architectural Drawing. From the French of M. Armengaud 
the elder, Prof, of Design in the Conservatoire of Arts and 
Industry, Paris, and MM. Armengaud the younger and Amou- 
roux, Civil Engineers. Rewritten and arranged, with addi- 
tional matter and plates, selections from and examples of the 
most useful and generally employed mechanism of the day. 
By William Johnson, Assoc. Inst. C. E., Editor of "The 
Practical Mechanic's Journal." Illustrated by 50 folio steel 
plates and 50 wood-cuts. A new edition, 4 to. . $10 00 

A RLOT.— A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR COACH PAINTERS. 

' Translated from the French of M. Arlot, Coach Painter; late 
Master Painter for eleven years with M. Ehrler, Coach Manufac- 
turer, Paris. With important American additions . . $1 25 

A RR0WSMITH.— PAPER-HANGER'S COMPANION : 

A Treatise in which the Practical Operations of the Trade are 
Systematically laid down: with Copious Directions Prepara- 
tory to Papering; Preventives against the Effect of Damp on 
Walls; the Various Cements and Pastes adapted to the Seve- 
ral Purposes of the Trade; Observations and Directions for 
the Panelling and Ornamenting of Rooms, &e. By James 
Arrowsmith. 12mo., cloth $1 25 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD IL0G1 B. 



B 



AIRD.— PROTECTION OF HOME LABOR AND HOKE PRO- 
DUCTIONS NECESSARY TO THE PROSPERITY OF THE 
AMERICAN FARMER : 
By Hbhbt Cabby Batbb. Bra., paper . 10 



•DAIRD.— THE RIGHTS OF AMERICAN PRODUCERS, AND THE 

D WRONGS OF BRITISH FREE TRADE REVENUE REFORM. 

By Hbbbt Cabbt Baibb. (i^"0) .... 5 

AIRD.— SOME OF THE FALLACIES OF BRITISH-FREE-TRADE 
REVENUE-REFORM. 

Two Letter- bo Prof A. L. T' r ry, of Williams Collage, Blast. By 
Hbbbt Cabbt Baibd. (1871.) Paper .... 



B 



T) AIRD. —STANDARD WAGES COMPUTING TAELES : 

An Impr in all former Methods of Computation, | 

ranged that wages for days, hoars, <»r fin 

rifled rate per day or hour, may be asoertaini By 

T. Si Baibd. Oblong folio .... 

AUERMAN.— TREATISE ON THE METALLURGY OF IRON. 
Illuslrat.-d. lteo $2 50 



B 



B 



•niCKNELL'.S VILLAGE BUILDER. 

*° 65 large plates, ito $10 00 

•DISHOP.— A HISTORY OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES : 
-^ From 161 Irowth of (he Prin- 

cipal sfeehai od Mane . from th< ilonial 

Period to the Pn 
WABD Yoi »a, and BdWXB T, • Three vols. Svo., 

$10 00 

OX.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON HEAT AS APPLIED TO 
THE USEFUL ARTS : 
For the use of Bngin By Tbokas Box, au- 

thor of "Practical Hydraulics. n Illustrated by 14 pli 
taining 114 figures. 1-mo. ..... 

QABINET MAKER'S ALBUM OF FURNITURE : 
Comprising a Collection of Designs for the N 
Elegant Styles of Furniture. Illustrated by Forty-eight I 

and Beautifully Engraved Plates. In one volume, obi 

CHAPMAN.— A TREATISE ON ROPE-MAKING : 

As practised in private and public Rope-yards, with a Description 
of the Manufacture, Rule?, Tables of Weights, etc*., adapted to the 
Trade; Shipping, Mining, Railways, Builders, etc. By RoBXBt 
Chapman. 24mo i . . $1 50 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 



pRAIK.— THE PRACTICAL AMERICAN MILLWRIGHT AND 
^ MILLER. 

Comprising the Elementary Principles of Mechanics, Me- 
chanism, and Motive Power, Hydraulics and Hydraulic 
Motors, Mill-dams, Saw Mills, Grist Mills, the Oat Meal Mill, 
the Barley Mill, Wool Carding, and Cloth Fulling and Dress- 
ing, Wind Mills, Steam Power, &c. By David Craik, Mill' 
wright. Illustrated by numerous wood engravings, and five 
folding plates. 1 vol. 8vo. . . . . $5 00 

riAMPIN.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON MECHANICAL EN- 
^ GINEERING: 

Comprising Metallurgy, Moulding, Casting, Forging, Tools, 
Workshop Machinery, Mechanical Manipulation, Manufacture 
of Steam-engines, etc. etc. With an Appendix on the Ana- 
lysis of Iron and Iron Ores. By Francis Campin, C. E. To 
which are added, Observations on the Construction of Steam 
Boilers, and Remarks upon Furnaces used for Smoke Preven- 
tion ; with a Chapter on Explosions. By R. Armstrong, C. E., 
and John Bourne. Rules for Calculating the Change Wheels 
for Screws on a Turning Lathe, and for a Wheel-cutting 
Machine. By J. La Nicca. Management of Steel, including 
Forging, Hardening, Tempering, Annealing, Shrinking, and 
Expansion. And the Case-hardening of Iron. By G. Ede. 
8vo. Illustrated with 29 plates and 100 wood engravings. 

$G 00 

p AMPIN.— THE PRACTICE OF HAND-TURNING IN WOOD, 
U IVORY, SHELL, ETC. : 

With Instructions for Turning such works in Metal as may be 
required in the Practice of Turning Wood, Ivory, etc. Also 
an Appendix on Ornamental Turning. By Francis Campin , 
with Numerous Illustrations, 12mo., cloth . . $3 00 

pAPRON DE DOLE —DTJSSAUCE.— BLUES AND CARMINES OF 
U INDIGO, 

A Practical Treatise on the Fabrication of every Commercial 
Product derived from Indigo. By Felicien Capron de Dole 
Translated, with important additions, by Professor H. Dus» 
sauce, 12mo< 






8 HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 

_ — , _^____^_ ^ 

pAREY.— THE WORKS OF HENRY C. CAREY: 

CONTRACTION OR EXPANSION? REPUDIATION OR RE- 
SUMPTION? Letters to lion. Hugh McCulloch. 8vo. 38 

FINANCIAL CRISES, their Causes and Effects. 8vo. paper 

25 

HARMONY OF INTERESTS; Agricultural, Manufacturing, 

and Commercial. 8vo., paper . . . . . $1 00 

Do. do. cloth . . . $1 50 

LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
Paper $1 00 

MANUAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. Condensed from Carey's 
" Principles of Social Science." By Kate McKean. 1 vol. 
12mo $2 25 

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS: comprising " Harmony of Inter- 
ests," "Money," "Letters to the President," "French and 
American Tariffs," "Financial Crises," " The Way to Outdo 
England without Fighting Her," "Resources of the Union," 
"The Public Debt," "Contraction or Expansion," "Review 
of the Decade 1857 — 'G7," "Reconstruction," etc. etc. 1 vol. 
8vo., cloth $4 50 

MONEY: A LECTURE before the N. Y. Geographical and Sta- 
tistical Society. 8vo., paper ..... 25 

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 8vo. . . . $2 50 

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. 3 volumes 8vo., cloth 

$10 00 
REVIEW OF THE DECADE 1857— '67. 8vo., paper 50 

RECONSTRUCTION: INDUSTRIAL, FINANCIAL, AND PO- 
LITICAL. Letters to the Hon. Henry Wilson, U. S. S. 8vo 
paper . 50 

THE PUBLIC DEBT, LOCAL AND NATIONAL. How to 

provide for its discharge while lessening the burden of Taxa- 
tion. Letter to David A. Wells, Esq., U. S. Revenue Commis- 
sion. 8vo., paper ....... 25 

THE RESOURCES OF THE UNION. A Lecture read, Dec. 
1865, before the American Geographical and Statistical So- 
ciety, N. Y., and before the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Social Science, Boston ... 50 

THE SLAVE TRADE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN; Why it 
Exists, and How it may be Extinguished. 12mo., cloth $1 50 



IIKNUV CARET BAIRD 



LETTERS ON INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. (18 

Taper 50 

REVIEW OF THE FARMERS' QUESTION. (1870.) Paper 25 

RESUMPTION! BOW IT MAY PROFITABLY BE BROUGHT 
AROUT. (1869.) 8vo., paper .... 60 

REVIEW OF THE REPORT OF HON. D. A. WELLS, Special 
Commissioner of the Revenue. (1869.) 8vo., paper 50 

SHALL ^VE HAVE PEACE? Pence Financial and Peace Poli- 
tical. Letters to the President Elect. (1868.) 8vo., paper 60 

THE FINANCE MINISTER AND THE CURRENCY, AND 
THE PUBLIC DEBT. (1868.) 8vo., paper . . 50 

THE WAY TO OUTDO ENGLAND WITHOUT FIGHTING 
HER. Letters to Hon. Schuyler Colfax. (18G5.) 8vo., paper 

$1 00 

WEALTH! OF WHAT DOES IT CONSIST? (1870.) Paper 25 

rjAMTJS.— A TREATISE ON THE TEETH OF WHEELS : 

Demonstrating the best forms "which can be given to them for the 

purposes of Machinery, such as Mill-work and Clock-work. Trans- 

1 from the French of M. Camus. By John I. Hawkins, 

Illustrated by 40 plates. 8vo $3 00 

pOXE.— MINING LEGISLATION. 

A paper read before the Am. Social Science Association. By 
ECKLBT B. COZB. Paper 20 

pOLBURN.— THE GAS-WORKS OF LONDON: 

Comprisii tch of the Gas-works of the city. Process of 

Manufacture, Quantity Produced, Cost, Profit, etc. By Zirah 
Colburn. Bto., cloth ...... 76 

rOLBTJRN.— THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE: 

Inclu ling of its Structure, Rules for Estimat- 

ing its Capabilities, and P ervationa on itsConstruc- 

and Mai it. By ZfiBAB Colburh. I" i. A 

$1 

riOLBURN AND MAW.— THE WATER- WORKS OF LONDON: 
Together with i S iter- 

\H < !OLBURM and W. Maw. ted from 

i ! 

rvVGUERREOTYPIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER'S COMPANION: 
U 



10 HENRY CAREY BAIK1 



D 



D 



D 



"HIRCKS.— PERPETUAL MOTION : 

Or Search for Self-Motn the 17th, li 
19th centuries, Illustrated from various, autl >urces in 

Papers, and numerous Patent 
Specifications, with an I i Docks, 

C. E. Illastrated by numerous i <>f machine?. 

12mo., cloth 

IXON.— THE PRACTICAL MILLWRIGHT'S AND ENGINEER'S 
GUIDE : 

Or Tables for Finding the Diameter nn<l 
Diameter, Weight, and P Shafts; Diameter and 5 

of Bolts, taoMAi Dixon. IJmo., cloth. 01 

UNCAN.— PRACTICAL SURVEYOR'S GUIDE: 
Containing the i y information to make any person, of 

oommon oapaeity, .*i finished land surveyor without : 
a teacher, ByAvnEiw D ■< u l2mo,, < 

USSAUCE.— A NEW AND COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE 
ARTS OF TANNING, CURRYING, AND LEATHER DRESS- 
ING : 

Com] ill the I and Im pr ove m e nts made in 

Pran< A Britain, and the ' ted from 

• 1 Document! of M- leroo, Qrowrette, Dwval, 

bias, Lab ar ra qu e, Payen, Elen6, D uelle, Mala- 

peyre, eto. ete. By Prof B a, Chemist U 

by 212 wood engravings. Bi .... $10 00 

USSAUCE —A GENERAL TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE 
OF SOAP, THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL: 
Comprising the Chemistry of the Art, a Description of nil the Raw 
Materials and the! D Lisbment of a 

Soap Factory, with the neeessary Apparati d the 

Manufacture of every variety of Soap, the Assay i ad Determination 
of the Value of Alkali y Sabsts 

Profsssob H. Dussaucb. With an Appendix, oontaining Ex- 
tracts from the Reports of the International Jury on E 
exhibited in the Pari-- Universal Exposition, 1867, nun* 
Tables, eto. ete. Illustrated bj In one 
of over 800 pages $io oo 

USSAUCE.— PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE FABRICATION 
OF MATCHES, GUN COTTON, AND FULMINATING POW- 
DERS. 
By Professor II. Dussauce. 12mo. . . $3 00 



D 



D 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. II 

TjUSSAUCE.— A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE PERFUMER : 

Being a New Treatise on Perfumery the most favorable to the 
Beauty without being injurious to the Health, comprising a 
Description of the substances used in Perfumery, the Form- 
ulae of more than one thousand Preparations, such as Cosme- 
tics, Perfumed Oils, Tooth Powders, Waters, Extracts, Tinc- 
tures, Infusions, Vinaigres, Essential Oils, Pastels, Creams, 
Soaps, and many new Hygienic Products not hitherto described. 
Edited from Notes and Documents of Messrs. Debay, Lunel, 

etc. With additions by Professor H. Dus sauce, Chemist. 12mo. 

$3 00 
nUSSAUCE.— A GENERAL TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE 
U OF VINEGAR, THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL. 

Comprising the various methods, by the slow and the quick pro- 
cesses, with Alcohol, Wine, Grain, Cider, and Molasses, as wen 
as the Fabrication of Wood Vinegar, etc. By Prof. H. Dussauce. 
I2mo. $5 00 

nUPLAIS.— A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE DISTILLATION 
U AND MANUFACTURE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS : 

From the French of M. Duplais. Translated and Edited by M. 
II c Ken.xie, M D. Illustrated by numerous large plates and wood 
engravings of the best apparatus calculated for producing the 
finest products. In one vol. royal 8vo. $10 00 

O^p" This is a treatise of the highest scientific merit and of the 
greatest practical value, surpassing in these respects, as well as 
in the variety of its contents, any similar volume in the English 
language. 

nE GRAFF.— THE GEOMETRICAL STAIR-BUILDERS' GUIDE : 

^ Being a Plain Practical S3'steni of Hand-Railing, embracing all 

its necessary Details, and Geometrically Illustrated by 22 Steel 

Engravings ; together with the use of the most approved princi' 

pies of Practical Geometry. By Simon De Graff, Architect. 

4to " $5 0* 

flYER AND COLOR-MAKER'S COMPANION : 

Containing upwards of two hundred Receipts for making Co- 
lors, on the most approved principles, for all the various styles 
and fabrics now in existence ; with the Scouring Process, and 
plain Directions for Preparing, Washing-off, and Finishing the 
Soods. In one vol. 12mo $1 25 






12 HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S catalogue. 



•pASTON.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON STREET OR HORSE- 

** POWER RAILWAYS : 

Their Location, Construction, and Management; with General 
Tlans and Rules for their Organization and Operation; toge- 
ther with Examinations as to their Comparative Advantages 
over the Omnibus System, and Inquiries as to their Value for 
Investment; including Copies of Municipal Ordinances relat- 
ing thereto. By Alexander Easton, C. E. Illustrated by 23 
plates, 8vo., cloth $2 00 

p^ftSYTH.— BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR HEAD-STONES, MURAL, 
C AND OTHER MONUMENTS : 

Containing 78 Elaborate and Esquisite Designs. By Forsyth. 

4to., cloth $5 00 

*%* This volume, for the beauty and variety of its designs, has 
never been surpassed by any publication of the kind, and should 
be in the hands of every marble-worker who does fine monumental 
work. 

pAIRBAIRN.— THE PRINCIPLES OF MECHANISM AND MA- 
X CHINERY OF TRANSMISSION : 

Comprising the Principles of Mechanism, Wheels, and Pulleys, 
Strength and Proportions of Shafts, Couplings of Shafts, and 
Engaging and Disengaging Gear. By William Fairbairn, 
Esq., C. E., LL. D., F. R. S., F. G. S., Corresponding Member 
of the National Institute of France, and of the Royal Academy 
of Turin ; Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, etc. etc. Beau- 
tifully illustrated by over 150 wood-cuts. In one volume 12mo. 

$2 50 

pAIRBAIRN.— PRIME-MOVERS : 

Comprising the Accumulation of Water-power; the Construc- 
tion of Water-wheels and Turbines; the Properties of Steam; 
the Varieties of Steam-engines and Boilers and Wind-mills. 
By William Fairbairn, C. E , LL. D., F. R. S., F. G. S. Au- 
thor of ''Principles of Mechanism and the Machinery of Trans- 
mission." With Numerous Illustrations. In one volume. (Iu 
press.) 

piLBART.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON BANKING: 

By Jams* William Gilbart. To which is added: TnE Na- 
tional Bank Act as now in force. 8vo. • . $4 50 



G 



ESNER.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON COAL, PETROLEUM, 
AND OTHER DISTILLED OILS. 

By Abraham Gesheb,M. D., F. G. S. .Second edition, revised 
and enlarged. By Georgb Weltden Gesner, Consulting 
Chemist and Engineer. Illustrated. 8vo. . . £3 50 



HESRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE, 13 



QOTHIC ALBUM FOR CABINET MAKERS: 

Comprising a ColleotioD of Designs for Gothic Furniture. Il- 
lustrated by twenty-three large and beautifully engraved 
plates. Oblong $3 00 

rjRANT.— BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND CULTIVATION OF THE 
U BEET : 

r.y E. 11. Chant. 12mo $1 26 

QREGORY.— MATHEMATICS FOR PRACTICAL MEN : 

Adapted to the Pursuits of Surveyors, Architects, Mechanics, 
and Civil Engineers. By Olintuus Gregory. 8vo., plates, 
cloth $3 00 

HRISWOLD.— RAILROAD ENGINEER'S POCKET COMPANION. 
Comprising Rules for Calculating Deflection Distances and 
Angles, Tangential Distances and Angles, and all Necessary 

Tables for Engineers; also the art of Levelling from Prelimi- 
nary Survey to the Construction of Railroads, intended Ex- 
pressly for the Young Engineer, together with Numerous Valu- 
able Pules and Examples. By W. Griswold. 12mo., tucks. 

$1 75 
QUETTIER.— METALLIC ALLOYS : 

Being a Practical Guide to their Chemical and Physical Pro- 
perties, their Preparation, Composition, and Uses. Translated 
from the French of A. Guettikr, Engineer and Director of 
Founderics, author of "La Fouderie en France," etc. etc. By 
A. A. Fesquet, Chemist and Engineer. In one volume, 12mo. 

>00 

TTA.TS AND FELTING: 

A Practical Treatise on their Manufacture. By a Practical 

Hatter. Illustrated by Drawings of Machinery, &c., 8vo. 

$1 23 
TT AY.— THE INTERIOR DECORATOR: 

The Laws of Harmonious Coloring adapted to Interior Decora- 
tions: with a Practical Treatise on House-Painting. By I>. 
R. Bay, House-Painter and Decorator. Illustrated by a Dia- 
gram of the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Colors. 1 2mo. 

TTUGHES.— AMERICAN MILLER AND MILLWRIGHT'S AS- 
11 BIST AIT: 

By RTKR QUGHXS. A D In OD€ Volume, 

12mo . 91 60 



14 IIKXRY CAREY BAIRD'S C \ I \ ! 



W 



NT— THE PRACTICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY. 

]>y Robbet Buht, Vioe-President of the I' 

London. With numerous illustrations, llimo., cloth . 



H u 



RST.— A HAND-BOOK FOR ARCHITECTURAL SURVEYORS : 
Comprising Form fa] in i>. Table 

of Weights, of the materials used in Build 
connected with Builders' work, Men ictico of 

Builders' Measurement, Contracts of Labor, \ 

pertj, Summary of the PractiCS in iMlapMati 

J. I . Hi i: it, C. I lition, pocket-book form, full b> 

$- 



TERVIS.— RAILWAY PROPERTY: 
\ 'I 'i-. stise on ti i 

designed to affor lust to the 

holders of t: well as Etailwi 

rs, and [ l'-v Johs B. Jsbvis, I 

ineer of the Had r EUili Lquedw * 

One TOL lL'nm., oloth .... 



JOHNSON.— A REPORT TO THE NAVY DEPARTMENT OF THE 
U UNITED STATES ON AMERICAN COALS : 

Applicable to Bi ttion and to other purposes. By 

Waui.i: EL Johvsov. With nnmerooi Illustrations. 607 

8vo., ... (10 00 



JOHNSTON.— INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS, 
U LIMESTONES, AND MANURES 

r>v J. w. F. Johhstsst. 12mo 



TTEENE— A HAND-BOOK OF PRACTICAL GAUGING, 

For the Use of Beginners, to which Is added a Chapter on Dis- 
tillation, describing the process in operation :>t tb 
House for ascertaining the Strength Of wines. V>y Jam 

Knmra, of n. M. Customs. 8vo. . . . $i 25 



HENRY CAREY BATRD'S CATALOGUE. 15 

T£ENTISH.— A TREATISE ON A BOX OF INSTRUMENTS, 

And the Slide Rule ; with the Theory of Trigonometry and Lo- 
garithms, including Practical Geometry, Surveying, Measur- 
ing of Timber, Cask and Malt Gauging, Heights, and Distances. 
By Thomas Kentish. In one volume. 12mo. . . $1 25 



T7-0BELL.— ERNI.— MINERALOGY SIMPLIFIED : 

A short method of Determining and Classifying Minerals, by 
means of simple Chemical Experiments in the Wet Way. 
Translated from the last German Edition of F. Yon Kobell, 
with an Introduction to Blowpipe Analysis and other addi- 
tions. By Henri Erni, M. D., Chief Chemist, Department of 
Agriculture, author of "Coal Oil and Petroleum." In one 
volume. 12mo. ... . . $2 50 



T ANDRIN.— A TREATISE ON STEEL : 

Comprising its Theory, Metallurgy, Properties, Practical Work- 
ing, and Use. By M. H. C. Landrin, Jr., Civil Engineer. 
Translated from the French, with Notes, by A. A. Fesquet, 
Chemist and Engineer. With an Appendix on the Bessemer 
and the Martin Processes for Manufacturing Steel, from the 
Report of Abram S. Hewitt, United States Commissioner to 
the Universal Exposition, Paris, 1867. 12mo. . . $3 00 



TARKIN.— THE PRACTICAL BRASS AND IRON FOUNDER'S 
JJ GUIDE. 

A Concise Treatise on Brass Founding, Moulding, the Metals 
and their Alloys, etc.; to which are added Recent Improve- 
ments in the Manufacture of Iron, Steel by the Bessemer Pro- 
cess, etc. etc. By James Larkin, late Conductor of the Brass 
Foundry Department in Reany, Neafie & Co.'s Penn Works, 
Philadelphia. Fifth edition, revised, with extensive Addi- 
tions. In one volume. 12mo. . . . . . $2 25 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 

T EAVITT.— FACTS AEOUT PEAT AS AN ARTICLE OF FUEL: 
With Remarks upon its Origin and Composition, the Localities 
m which it is found, the Methods of Preparation and Manu 
facture, and the various Uses to which it is applicable; toge 
ther with many other matters of Practical and Scientific Inte- 
rest. To which is added n chapter on the Utilization of 
Dust with Peat for the Production of an Excellent Fuel at 
Moderate Cost, especially adapted for Steam By II. 

T. Leavitt. Third edition. 12mo. . . $1 To 

TEROUX— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE MANUFAC- 

*-* TtJRE OF WORSTEDS AND CARDED YARNS: 

Translated from the French of Charlks Lbboux, IfeohanieaJ 
Engineer, and Superintendent of a Spinning Mill. By Dr II. 
Paivb, and A A. 1 hi rge plates In 

one volume 8vo. . . . . . . . . $5 00 

TESLIE (MISS).— COMPLETE COOKERY: 

Directions for Cookery in its Various Branches. By Mm 
l.i-i.n:. ooth edition. Thoroughly revised, with the addi- 
tion of New Receipts, In 1 vol. 12mo., cloth . 

TESLIE (MISS). LADIES 1 HOUSE BOOK: 

a Manual of Domestic Eoonomy. 20th revised edition, 12 
cloth 91 26 

TESLIE (MISS).— TWO HUNDRED RECEIPTS IN FRENCH 
Jj COOKERY. 

12mo 50 

T LEBER.— ASSAYER'S GUIDE . 

Or, Practical Directions to A . Mirers, and Smelters, for 

the Tests and Assays, by Heat and by Wet 1 3, for the 

Ores of all the principal Metals, of Gold and Silver Coins and 
Alloys, and of Coal, etc. By Oscar M. Lieber. 12mo., cloth 

91 

T OVE.— THE ART OF DYEING, CLEANING, SCOURING, AND 

^ FINISHING : 

On the most approved English and French methods; being 
Practical Instructions in Dyeing Silks, Woollens, and Cottons, 
Feathers, Chips, Straw, etc.; Scouring and Cleaning Bed and 
Window Curtains, Carpets, Rugs, etc.; French and Enj 
Cleaning, etc. By Thomas Lovh. Second American Edition, to 
which are added General Instructions for the Use <>f Aniline 
Colors. 8vo 5 00 



M 



M 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 17 

AIN AND BROWN.— QUESTIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED 
WITH THE MARINE STEAM-ENGINE : 

And Examination Papers ; with Hints for their Solution. By 
Thomas J. Main, Professor of Mathematics, Ptoyal Naval College, 
and Thomas Brown, Chief Engineer, R.N. 12mo., cloth $1 50 

AIN AND BROWN.— THE INDICATOR AND DYNAMOMETER: 

With their Practical Applications to the Steam-Engine. By 
Thomas J. Main, M. A. F. R., Ass't Prof. Royal Naval College, 
Portsmouth, and Thomas Brown, Assoc. Inst. C. E., Chief En- 
gineer, R. N., attached to the R. N. College. Illustrated. From 
the Fourth London Edition. 8vo. ... . $1 50 

AIN AND BROWN —THE MARINE STEAM-ENGINE. 

By Thomas J. Main, F. R. Ass't S. Mathematical Professor at 
Royal Naval College, and Thomas Brown, Assoc. Inst. C. E. 
Chief Engineer, R. N. Attached to the Royal Naval College. 
Authors of " Questions Connected with the Marine Steam-En- 
gine," and the " Indicator and Dynamometer." With numerous 
Illustrations. In one volume 8vo $5 00 

TWTARTIN.— SCREW-CUTTING TABLES, FOR THE USE OF ME- 
1Y1 CHANICAL ENGINEERS : 

Showing the Proper Arrangement of Wheels for Cutting the 
Threads of Screws of any required Pitch ; with a Table for 
Making the Universal Gas-Pipe Thread and Taps. By W. A. 
Martin, Engineer. 8vo 50 

ILES— A PLAIN TREATISE ON HORSE-SHOEING. 

With Illustrations. By William Miles, author of " The Horse's 

Foot" 



M 



M 



TWTOLESWORTH.— POCKET-BOOK OF USEFUL FORMULA AND 
1Y1 MEMORANDA FOR CIVIL AND MECHANICAL EN3INEERS. 

By Guilford L. Molesworth, Member of the Institution of 
Civil Engineers, Chief Resident Engineer of the Ceylon Railway. 
Second American from the Tenth London Edition. In one 
volume, full bound in pocket-book form . . * . $2 00 

OORE.— THE INVENTOR'S GUIDE: 

Patent Office and Patent Laws : or, a Guide to Inventors, and a 
Book of Reference for Judges, Lawyers, Magistrates, and others. 
By J G. Moore. 12mo., cloth $125 

APIER.— A MANUAL OF ELECTRO-METALLURGY: 

Including the Application of the Art to Manufacturing Processes. 
By James Napier. Fourth American, from the Fourth London 
edition, revised and enlarged. Illustrated by engravings. In 
one volume, 8vo $2 00 



M 



N 



18 



HENRY CAREY BAIRDS C 



TVTAPIER 
1)1 B* Jambs 



A SYSTEM OF CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO DYEING: 

X i \ NeW : i t j I 

E Lition, c it op t of the 

ience, inolad 

Pi r. With nn 

and ( lalico Prii t the Pari- Unii 

<.:" 1867, from the Report! of the [nternational Jar; Illus- 

tratnl. In one volttl . . 

•VTEW3ERY. — GLEANINGS FROM ORNAMENTAL ART OF 
** EVERY STYLE ; 

Drawn from Example* in the British, E 
. and otl 

I 
nun d 
am] ... $15 00 

■KTICHOLSON— A MANUAL OF THE ART OF BOOK-BINDING: 
Contain!] 

l. ISmo. 

olotfa .... .... 

TyTORRIS.— A HAND-BOOK FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND 

1N MACHINISTS : 

Con • I be Pro] I leulatioi 

mol i\ <• . M am er of 6 
Cui.. riMUS fl 1 Mo- 

ohaaioal Bngineer. New edition. Illustrated, i ith 

T\TYSTR0M. — ON TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION AND THE 
X>l CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND SCREW PROPELLERS: 
Por Naval and Morii •. lais 

Aoting Chief Engineer I I with 

additional matter. Illnstrated by seven engravings* ]2mo. 

$2 50 

'NEILL.— A DICTIONARY OF DYEING AND CALICO PRINT- 
ING: 

Containing a brief account of all tl. <ncr? nn«l Pro 

nee in the Art of Dyeing ami Printing Textile Pahries: with P 
tioal Receipts and So ientifio Information. BtChari i bO^Nbill, 
Analytical Chemist j Fellow of the Chemical S< London; 

Memher of the Literary and Philosophic - Manohesi 

Author of "Chemistry of Oalieo Printing and Dyeing.' 1 To which 
is added An Essay on Coal Tar Colors ami their Application to 







HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 19 



Dyeing and Calico Printing. By A. A. Fesquet, Chemist and 

Engineer. With an Appendix on Dyeing and Calico Printii _-. u 
shown at the Exposition of 1867, from the Reports of the Interna, 
tional Jury, etc. In one volume 8vo., 491 pages . . $6 00 

QS BORN .—THE METALLURGY OF IRON AND STEEL: 

Theoretical and Practical : In all its Branches ; With Special Re- 
ference to American Materials and Processes. By H. S. OsBORN, 
LL. D., Professor of Mining and Metallurgy in Lafayette College, 
Easton, Pa. Illustrated by 230 Engravings on Wood, and G 
Folding Plates. 8vo., 972 pages $10 00 

QSBORN.— AMERICAN MINES AND MINING : 

^ Theoretically and Practically Considered. By Prof. II. S. Os- 
BORX, Illustrated by numerous engravings. 8vo. (hi 2>reparatio?i.) 

pAINTER, GILDER, AND VARNISHER'S COMPANION: 

Containing Rules and Regulations in everything relating to the 
Arts of Painting, Gilding, Varnishing, and Glass Staining, with 
numerous useful and valuable Receipts; Tests for the Detection 
of Adulterations in Oils and Colors, and a statement of the Dis- 
eases and Accidents to which Painters, Gilders, and Varnishers 
are particularly liable, with the simplest methods of Prevention 
and Remedy. With Directions for Graining, Marbling, Sign Writ- 
ing, and Gilding on Glass. To which are added Complete Instruc- 
tions for Coach Painting and Varnishing. 12mo., cloth, $1 50 

pALLETT.— THE MILLER'S, MILLWRIGHT'S, AND ENGI- 
r NEER'S GUIDE. 

By Henry Pallett. Illustrated. In one vol. 12mo. . $3 00 
pERKINS.— GAS AND VENTILATION. 

Practical Treatise on Gas and Ventilation. With Special Relation 
to Illuminating, Heating, and Cooking by Gas. Including Scien- 
tific Helps to Engineer-students and others. With illustrated 
Diagrams. By E. E. Perkins. 12mo., cloth . . . $1 25 

pERKINS AND STOWE.— A NEW GUIDE TO THE SHEET-IRON 
* AND BOILER PLATE ROLLER: 

Containing a Series of Tables showing the Weight of Slabs and 
Piles to Produce Boiler Plates, and of the Weight of Piles and the 
Sizes of Bars to Produce Sheet-iron ; the Thickness of the Bar 
Gauge in Decimals ; the Weight per foot, and the Thickness on 
the Bar or Wire Gauge of the fractional parts of an inch ; the 
Weight per sheet, and the Thickness on the Wire Gauge of Sheet- 
iron of various dimensions to weigh 112 lbs. per bundle ; and the 
conversion of Short Weight into Long Weight, and Long Weight 
into Short. Estimated and collected by G. II. Perkins and J. G- 
Stowe $2 50 



20 HENRY CARET BAIRLVfl < ATALOGl 

pHILLIPS AND DARLINGTON.— RECORDS OF MINING AND 

X METALLURGY : 

Or, Facta and Memoranda f«»r the u-e of the Mine Agent and 
Bmelter. ByJ, Ibthub Pbillipb, Mil ir, Gradi 

the I mperieJ School of W d John I ► m:i 

Illustrated by numeroni eng In one roL l2mo. . $2 00 

pRADAL, MALEPEYRE, AND DUSSAUCE. — A COMPLETE 

* TREATISE ON PERFUMERY : 

Containing ootiaei of the Raw Material oaed in the Ait, and tin* 

rnnnla . Aoo< rd ris folloi 

in Prai - ! . • 1 1 ■ 1 , and the I By M. P. P 

Parfomer-Cheu M. P. Malxpbyi >-m the 

French, wit additions, by Prof. H. I) $10 

pROTEAUX— PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE MANUFACTURE 
X OF PAPER AND BOARDS. 

By V. Pim I <-f 

[ill, ' I'uv 
ii.'. With addil >. Translated from 

the Prenoh, with Notes, by Hobati a B . M. I>. 

whioh lead ipteron the BJ tare of Paper fr«»m w 

in the United E y Hi mi T. Bnon it, 

Artisan." 1 11 u oontaini 

Matel ry, Plani $5 00 

pEGNAULT— ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY. 

By M. V i;i i.n w ii. Translated from th< byT. I 

Bi EfToa, M. a . and edited, will noH i a, 

Melter and Banner U. S. Mint, and Wn\ I. Pai 

and Mining Engineer. I d by nearly 700 u raringa. 

Comprising nearly 1600 [ntwoT< Ah $10 00 

pEID— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF 

^ PORTLAND CEMENT: 

By Hbhrt Ran>, 0. R. To whioh i< added n Translation of M. 
A. Lipowits'a Work, describing ■ new method ado] frersaaay 

of Manufacturing thai Cement. By W. P. Rem. Ii I hy 

plates and wood engravii 0. . . . . $7 00 

piFFAULT, VERGNAUD, AND TOUSSAINT— A PRACTICAL 
11 TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF COLORS FOR 
PAINTING : 

Containing the best Formula) and the Processes the A md 

in most General Use. By MM. Riffau] r, Vergnai d, and To 

SAINT. Revised and Edited by M. F. M ai.i.imv i:k and Dr. Emit, 

Wixckler. Illustrated by Engraving--. In one vol. Svo. [In 
preparation.) 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 21 

"DIFFAULT, VERGNAUD, AND TOUSSAINT.— A PRACTICAL 
■" TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISHES : 

By MM. Riffault, Yergxaud, and Toussaixt. Revised and 
Edited by M, F. Malepeyre and Dr. Emil Winckler. Illus- 
trated. In one vol. 8vo. {In jireparation.) 

CHUNK.— A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON RAILWAY CURVES 
° AND LOCATION, FOR YOUNG ENGINEERS. 

BjWm. F. Shuxk, Civil Engineer. 12mo., tucks . . $2 00 

OMEATON.— BUILDER'S POCKET COMPANION: 

Containing the Elements of Building, Surveying, and Architec 
ture ; with Practical Rules and Instructions connected with the sub- 
ject. By A. C. Smeatox, Civil Engineer, etc. In one volume, 
12mo $ I 50 

HMITH.— THE DYER'S INSTRUCTOR: 

Comprising Practical Instructions in the Art of Dyeing Silk, Cot- 
ton, Wool, and Worsted, and Woollen Goods : containing nearly 
800 Receipts. To which is added a Treatise on the Art of Pad- 
ding ; and the Printing of Silk Warps, Skeins, and Handkerchiefs, 
and the various Mordants and Colors for the different styles of 
such work. By David Smith, Pattern Dyer, 12mo., cloth 

$3 06 
QMITH.— THE PRACTICAL DYER'S GUIDE: 

Comprising Practical Instructions in the Dyeing of Shot Cobourgs, 
Silk Striped Orleans, Colored Orleans from Black Warps, ditto 
from White Warps, Colored Cobourgs from White Warps. Merinos, 
Yarns, Woollen Cloths, etc. Containing nearly 300 Receipts, to 
most of which a Dyed Pattern is annexed. Also, a Treatise on 
the Art of Padding. By Dayid Smith. In one vol. Svo. $25 00 






nHAW.— CIVIL ARCHITECTURE : 

Being a Complete Theoretical and Practical System of Building, 
containing the Fundamental Principles of the Art. By Edward 
Shaw, Architect. To which is added a Treatise on Gothic Archi- 
tecture, etc. By Thomas W. Silloway and George M. Hard- 
ing , Architects. The whole illustrated by 102 quarto plates finely 
engraved on copper. Eleventh Edition. 4to. Cloth. $10 00 

OLOAN.— AMERICAN HOUSES : 

A variety of Original Designs for Rural Buildings. Illustrated by 
26 colored Engravings, with Descriptive References. By Samttel 
Sloan, Architect, author of the " Model Architect,' 1 etc. etc. Svo. 

$2 50 



QJCHINZ.— RESEARCHES ON THE ACTION OF THE BLAST- 
° FURNACE. 

By Chas. Schixz, Seven plates. 12mo. . . . $4 25 



22 HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATAI. 

OMITH.— PARKS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS : 

Or, Practical Xotes on Country Residences, Villas, Public) Parks, 

and Gardens. By Charles II. J. Smith, Landscape Gar 

and Garden Architect, etc. etc. 12mo. . . . . $2 25 

STOKES.— CABINET-MAKER'S AND UPHOLSTERER'S COMPA- 
° NION : 

Comprising the Rudiments and Principles of Cabinet-making and 
Upholstery, with Familiar Instruction ;nples 

for attaining a Proficiency in the Art <»f I as applicable 

to Cabinet-work ; The Processes of Ven< and 

Buhl-work \ the Art ofDjeingand Btaining AV 1, i rtoise 

Shell, etc Directions for Lackering, Japanning, and Varnishing; 
to make French Polish ; to prepare the Best GH . and 

Compositions, and a numb irticularly for workmen 

generally. By J !• In one toL 12mo. With illustrations 

»1 

STRENGTH AND OTHER PROPERTIES OF METALS. 

™ Rep. : perimente on th< eg of 

r Cannon. With i Description of the Machines for Test- 
ing Metals, and of the Classification of Cannon in By 
Officers of the Ordnai rtmenl V. S. Army. V,y authority 
of the Seoretarj of War. Dlnstrated by 26 large steel | 
1 vol. quarto . $10 00 

qULLIVAN — PROTECTION TO NATIVE INDUSTRY. 

^ By Sir Edward Sri. i.iv\n, Baronet. (1S70.) 8to. . $150 

ABLES SHOWING THE WEIGHT OF ROUND, SQUARE, AND 
FLAT BAR IRON, STEEL, ETC. 
By Measurement. Cloth ...... 63 



T 



T 



AYLOR.— STATISTICS OF COAL: 

Including Mineral BituminOUf uce? employed in Arts and 
Manufactures ; with their Geographical, Geological, and Commer- 
cial Distribution and amount of Production and Consumption on 
the American Continent. 'With Incidental Statistic- of the Iron 
Manufacture. By R. C. Taylor. Second edition, re\ 
S. 1Iat.dk man. Illustrated by five Maps and man] 
ings. Svo., cloth I • 

EMPLETON.— THE PRACTICAL EXAMINATOR ON STEAM 
AND THE STEAM-ENGINE : 

With Instructive References relative thereto, for the Use of 1 
neers, Students, and others. By Wm. Tr , Engineer 12rao. 

*1 25 



HENRY CAREY BAIRD'S CATALOGUE. 23 

rPHOMAS.— THE MODERN PRACTICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY. 

■*" By R. W. Thomas, F. C. S. 8vo., cloth .... 75 

rPHOMSON.— FREIGHT CHARGES CALCULATOR. 

By Andrew Thomson, Freight Agent . . . . $1 25 

HPURNING : SPECIMENS OF FANCY TURNING EXECUTED ON 
X THE HAND OR FOOT LATHE : 

"With Geometric, Oval, and Eccentric Chucks, and Elliptical Cut- 
ting Frame. By an Amateur. Illustrated by 30 exquisite Pho- 
tographs. 4to $3 00 

TIURNER'S (THE) COMPANION: 

Containing Instructions in Concentric, Elliptic, and Eccentrio 
Turning; also various Plates of Chucks, Tools, and Instru- 
ments ; and Directions for using the Eccentric Cutter, Drill, 
Vertical Cutter, and Circular Rest ; with Patterns and Instruc- 
tions for working them. A new edition in 1 vol. 12mo. $1 50 

TTRBIN — BRULL. — A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR PUDDLING 
U IRON AND STEEL. 

By Ed. Urbin, Engineer of Arts and Manufactures. A Prize 
Essay read before the Association of Engineers, Graduate of the 
School of Mines, of Liege, Belgium, at the Meeting of 1865-6. 
To which is added a Comparison of the Resisting Properties 
of Iron and Steel. By A. Brull. Translated from the French 
by A. A. Fesquet, Chemist and Engineer. In one volume, Svo. 

$1 00 

TTOGDES.— THE ARCHITECT'S AND BUILDER'S POCKET COM- 
V PANION AND PRICE BOOK. 

By F. W. Vogdes, Architect. Illustrated. Full bound in pocket- 
book form $2 00 

In book form, 18mo., muslin . . , . . 1 50 

WARN.— THE SHEET METAL WORKER'S INSTRUCTOR, FOR 
YV ZINC, SHEET-IRON, COPPER AND TIN PLATE WORK- 
ERS, &c. 

By Reuben Henry "Warn, Practical Tin Plate TTorker. Illus- 
trated by 32 plates and 37 wood engravings. 8vo. . . $3 CO 

m-ATSON.— A MANUAL OF THE HAND-LATHE. 

' * By Egbert P. Watson, Late of the " Scientific American," Au- 
thor of "Modern Practice of American Machinists and Engi- 
neers," In one volume, 12nio. . . . . . $1 50 



24 HENRY CAREY BAIRDS CATALOGUE. 



W 



W 



w 



w 



w 



ATSON.— THE MODERN PRACTICE OF AMERICAN MA- 
CHINISTS AND ENGINEERS : 
Including the Construction, Application, and Use of Drills, Lathe 
Tools, Cutters for Boring Cylinders, nnd Hollow Work Generally, 
with the most Economical Speed of the same, the Results verified 
by Actual Practice at the Lathe, the Vice, and on the Floor. 
Together with Workshop management, Economy of Manufacture, 
the Steam-Engine, Boilers, Gears, Belting, etc. etc. Bj Egbert 
P. Watsox, late of the "Scientific American." Illustrated by 
eighty-six engravings. 12mo. .... 
ATSON.— THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE ART OF 
WEAVING BY HAND AND POWER : 
Wit li Calculations and Tablet f<»r kl with 

fche Trade. By JoswWatsoh, Manufacturer itieal .Machine 
Maker. Illustrated by Largt drawings <>f the best Power-Looms. 
8to. $10 00 

EATHERLY.— TREATISE ON .THE ART OF BOILING SU- 
GAR, CRYSTALLIZING, LOZENGE-MAKING, COMFITS, 
GUM GOODS, 

And other pi f->r Confectionery, Ac. Tn whiofa arc ex- 

plained, in an easy and familiar manner, the rariooj 
of Manufacturing every deaoription <>t' Raw and Refined Sugar 
(Joo'i- - I onen and -.ihers 

ILL.— TABLES FOR QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 
BjP Prof Hi iMinii WlLlf, Of ' many. Seventh edi- 

tion. Translated by Ohablbs V Bans, Ph. l>., Pri 
Natural Boienoe, Dickinson Collage, Carlisle, Pa. 

ILLIAMS.— ON HEAT AND STEAM : 

Embracing New Views of Vaporisation, l ition, and Expan- 

sion. By Charles "NYvr. Williams, A. I. C. K. Illustrated. 

$3 50 



WORSSAM.— ON MECHANICAL SAWS: 

From the Transactions of the Society of Engineers, 1867. By 
S. W. Worssam, Jr. Illustrated by IS large folding plates. 8vo. 

<5 00 

tTITOHLER.— A HAND-BOOK OF MINERAL ANALYSIS. 

By F. Woiiler. Edited by H. B. Nvsox, Professor of Chemistry, 
Rensselaer Institute, Troy, N. Y. With numerous Illustrations. 
12mo $3 00 



























^ 









*^< S* 






v, 

^ 









■ 





















$' . 






\ 















f 






*> 



■<■ 















c o 
\ ^ 



** 



r < t>' 












.0 

N, 














**' 




t 






•V 

















cP 



, 



LlB *ARYO F 



°ONGR£ 



SS 



ooo2 96 e W , 







